Krsna

“Even if the fully-armed sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra were to kill me unarmed and unresisting on the battlefield, that would be more auspicious for me.” Arjuna said, “I will not fight. The sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra may come and kill me and I will not resist. I would rather give up my life than fight.” Arjuna was prepared to leave the world. He had the great fortune to be with Kṛṣṇa as His dear friend, but now he has become very weak, devoid of strength and intelligence. Why was his position like this? There is only one reason. He was considering his grandfather, Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Krpacarya, Droṇācārya, the brothers of Duryodhana and the young wives of the Kauravas. They would all become widows; their husbands dead. This was such a large family of the Kauravas standing opposed to the Pandavas…

If anyone loses his brain, becoming completely crazy, seeing someone in front of him he thinks, “This person is not helpful for me, I will tell him my conception and change him.” Arjuna even wanted to change Kṛṣṇa, and make Him follow his own advice and conception. He wanted Kṛṣṇa to speak favorably according to his own desire, he did not seek to know who Kṛṣṇa really was. If anyone takes up bad association, his intelligence will be lost or defeated by that wicked company. Then, similar to how crazy people always think they are truthful and speak the truth, and they want all others to hear them and follow their desires, intending to be helpful to them, Arjuna did not realize that if anyone does not follow sanātana-dharma or any rules and regulations they are foolish and crazy. Because of his attachment to them, Arjuna also became deluded by their misconceptions, thus he spoke to Kṛṣṇa so many things. He said, “You are Govinda, you are Madhusudana, You are Janārdana…”

Arjuna lamented, “O Govinda, You certainly care for the gopīs, cows, cowherd boys, and Gokula itself. You protect them all, so why then are You not protecting me? Please tell me. Where is my fault? I do not want to kill anyone. What would I then do with myself? What use would there be in maintaining my life? How would I become happy by killing my gurus and kin such as cousins, uncles, in-laws, grandfather and so forth? O Janardana, what will I attain by killing the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra? Your name is Janardana, You are known to be very merciful and You have love for all. Did You ever kill Your parents or in-laws? Did You kill Your Guru? Did You ever do anything like that in Your life? If You did not, then why are You pushing me forward to do so now? Your name is Janardana; You break the pride of all. Those who are proud, arrogant, terrorists and so forth, You give them all punishment. You are the rectifier of all. You are not ordinary. Why don’t You perform this act; killing all these sinful people? Why are You instructing me to do so? Why should I knowingly perform such heinous acts as killing my uncles, cousins, gurus, grandfather and all others with my own hand..?”

If we do not follow Vraja bhakti, and vraja-rasa does not come to us, then one is not really called a devotee or follower of devotion. It is only so-called, like a showroom. Externally one might think, “I am a devotee.” Kṛṣṇa reveals this in the beginning of Bhagavad-gītā. Arjuna said, “O Kṛṣṇa, Govinda, I require no house or servants. If I killed all the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra, what benefit would I actually achieve? What will I gain?” Arjuna did not think that the Kurus were always disturbing and tormenting others, that Duryodhana and his followers were criminals with bad mentalities. Arjuna did not think that their association was detrimental; that those same bad qualities could come to him. If one associates with wicked people, one’s good character will also be lost. He would even join them to destroy the world. Nonsense people, rascals will not change. Kṛṣṇa Himself had tried again and again to change them for the better. Now, as he ventured near them with an empathetic mind, Arjuna also lost his steadiness and good intelligence…

God has great parental affection for His devotees and He is the fulfiller of their desires. God will even give up His supreme word of truth, but He will not give up His parental affection. If He did not have this affection, then He would have told Arjuna, “No! This is not good for you. Hear My words!” However, because of His affection for Arjuna, His heart melted. His name is Acyuta. He can never give up His nature. If a child pleads with his mother again and again for something, she will be bound by affection to fulfill his wants. The child is stubborn and will not listen to his mother if she tells him why the object he wants is not beneficial for him. Therefore she allows the child to see how harmful his desires are while keeping him protected at the same time. Then, intelligence will come. If one is forbidden from the start, then he will never submit to hear good instruction…

On one side it is seen that the materialists have a larger gathering of followers, and on the other side the number of devotees are far fewer. Seeing the devotees, it appears they are poor and unhappy and the enjoyers are wealthy and have so many followers. They show themselves to be so happy, externally. Then which side will one take? On one side, Bhīṣma-pitāmaha blew his conch shell and all the others played on their instruments making a tremendous sound. On the Pāṇḍavas’ side there is a smaller number of warriors. The Kauravas had many maharathis and atirathis on their side. They had many other soldiers, horses, elephants and opulent chariot fighters. Whereas the Pāṇḍavas had a small army compared to the Kauravas. It thus appears externally that the ability of the devotees is less than that of the materialistic demons. After seeing this some may think, “I will change sides, there is no hope.” This often occurs…

As those on the side of Duryodhana and Dhṛtarāṣṭra heard the sounds of the Pāṇḍavas and their soldiers blowing their conch shells, their hearts began to quake as they trembled. The grip on their weapons loosened. Some began to faint while standing in their chariots. Some soldiers’ armor slipped from their bodies, while others simply sat down and began to weep. The earth and sky itself began to shake from the loud reverberation of the conch shells. Wherever this sound went, the atmosphere was shaken. This is the power of God. This power is also present with the devotees. For instance, a materialist studies very hard and becomes quite learned, but still cannot maintain with ease a family, a home or a property. The devotee of God however, shakes the entire earth with his potency and personality. He makes the whole world spin because he has the potency of God present within him. When Kṛṣṇa and the Pāṇḍavas blew their respective conch shells the earth, the sky and the clouds all shook…

He said, “Bhīma only has a little power. Sometimes he goes off and collects a new wife. In the jungle he had a son with Hidimba, a rākṣasī. Sometimes he meets with Draupadī and sometimes any other. He doesn’t have any control of himself and doesn’t follow any rules and regulations.” Some people say, “I am a male, how can I be in love with God, the Supreme Male.” Yet if I consider the śakti I possess; who is its proprietor? All śakti is the property of God. Therefore if one has śakti within him, then it will be natural for him to have love for God. That is the innate tendency of śakti. When Kṛṣṇa raised the wheel of the chariot, and ran forward to kill Bhīṣma, Bhīṣma folded his hands and smiled with great love for the Lord. Previously, upon hearing that Kṛṣṇa would not engage in battle during the war Bhīṣma made a vow, “I will not call myself the son of Santanu if I cannot make the Lord raise arms in this battle.” When Duryodhana returned from meeting Kṛṣṇa in Dvārakā he told Bhīṣma, “Keśi’s killer will not fight. He will remain silent in the humble position of a charioteer.”

Duryodhana described those who were on the side of the Pāṇḍavas–-the side of dharma to his master, Droṇācārya. Why didn’t Duryodhana’s nature change? Why doesn’t the consciousness of demons change when they have darśana of the associates of God? So many people come and stay in the company of Śrī Guru and Vaiṣṇavas, but why doesn’t their nature change? Because they don’t have love for Guru and Vaiṣṇavas. They have love for others. There is a thorn hidden some place within them. They stay with Guru and Vaiṣṇavas, but their heart is embedded somewhere in the realm of sense enjoyment. They take objects from Śrī Guru and Vaiṣṇavas for their own enjoyment and they run away with that. So they don’t actually want the love and relationship available to them. Where will love come to them from? They are attached to inert material objects and gross sense gratification. Sense enjoyers, like Duryodhana, are extremely difficult to change…