kṛṣṇa-advent (iii)

(21) The Lord of the Veda [Brahma] heard in His trance a vibration of words in the sky. He said to the servants of the three worlds, the demigods: "Hear further from me about the order of the Original Person, oh immortal souls. Execute these instructions immediately, do not delay.

(22) Before we came here, the Personality of Godhead knew already about the distress of Mother Earth. He will expand Himself in the family of the Yadus, by means of your good selves taking birth as His parts. Thus you should live on earth for as long as He, the Lord of Lords, needs to diminish the burden of the planet through His own potency of Time.

(23) The Supreme Lord, the original transcendental person, will personally appear in the house of Vasudeva and also wants all the wives of the demigods to take birth to please Him.

(24) Before Lord Vasudeva appears, first the part of Hari known as the fully independent Ananta with the thousands of hoods [Sesha] will appear [as Balarama] with the desire to please Him.

(25) By the Master being ordered to appear and to manage His affairs Vishnu-Maya will also appear together with all her different potencies, she who is as good as the Supreme Lord Himself and who captivates all the worlds."

(26) After thus having pacified Mother Earth with sweet words and having informed the immortals, Brahma, the supreme master of the founding fathers, returned to his supreme abode.

(27-28) In the past Shurasena, the king of the Yadus [and grandfather of Krishna] lived in the city of Mathura from where he ruled the different districts Mathura and Shurasena. Mathura, the city intimately connected to the Supreme Lord Hari, from that time on was the capital for all the kings of Yadu.

(29) It was in that place that one day, the divine character of Vasudeva, after having married Devaki [sister of Kamsa, tyrant], together with his bride mounted a chariot to return home. Kamsa, the son of Ugrasena held, in order to please his sister for the occasion, the reins of the horses in the midst of thousands of golden chariots.

(31-33) When she left home, king Devaka, who was fond of his daughter, had given a dowry of four hundred elephants with golden garlands, ten thousand horses together with eighteen hundred chariots and a hundred young and attractive maidservants complete with jewelry. When they departed, conch shells, bugles, drums and kettledrums vibrated in concert to wish the bride and bridegroom all the best.

(34) Being on their way, a voice from beyond addressed Kamsa who held the reins: 'The eighth child of this girl you are carrying with you, oh fool, will put an end to your life!'

(35) Thus being addressed, he - who mischievous and sinful in the past had degraded the Bhoja family - took up a sword against his sister and grabbed her by her hair with the intention to kill her.

(36) In order to pacify him who was ready to commit such a heinous and shameless crime, Vasudeva, that greatly fortunate soul, addressed him.

Sri Vasudeva said: 

(37) "A man of so many praiseworthy qualities, such a brilliant star among the heroic Bhojas like you, how can you kill your own sister, a woman, especially at the time of her marriage?

(38-40) Death is included with the body that was born. Whether one dies today or in a hundred years, ultimately every living being is sure to die. When the body has to return to the five elements, the indweller automatically according to his own karma receives a new body upon abandoning the old one. The way a person as he walks changes from one foot to the other, and the way a caterpillar on a plant, a living being likewise has to experience the consequences of his karma.

(41-42) Just as one in a dream, being endowed with the qualities of a material body, is subjected to that what the mind is thinking, and one's consciousness is fully absorbed by that what one hears and sees, one is the same way forgetful in one's present body. The mind, impelled by fate and deliberation, moves from one position to the next, so that the embodied soul, after the demise of its physical frame, obtains a birth and arrives at a new body in accordance with the material quality and the evolution he was experiencing.

(43-44) The way the reflection of the luminaries - as one may observe them in water, or other liquids that are moved by the wind - offers distortions in different shapes, the person, the living entity, likewise in the situation that was created by his own imaginative power in association with the gunas, gets bewildered depending his attachments. Therefore, everyone to the interest of his own welfare and good rebirth should not harm anybody, for the evil-doer has to live in fear for others himself.

(45) This innocent woman, your younger sister, completely depends on you like she was your own daughter - do not kill her. She means good to you and she deserves your care and compassion!"