Canto Ten / CHAPTER SIX

The Killing of the Demon Pūtanā

Whenever there is danger, the pure devotee thinks of the protection and shelter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. This is also advised in Bhagavad-gītā (9.33): anityam asukham lokam imam prāpya bhajasva mām. In this material world there is danger at every step (padam padam yad vipadām). Therefore a devotee has no other recourse than to take shelter of the Lord at every step.

Śukadeva Gosvāmī spoke this verse to mitigate the anxiety of Mahārāja Parīkshit. Mahārāja Parīkshit was a devotee of Krishna, and therefore when he understood that Pūtanā was causing disturbances in Gokula, he was somewhat perturbed. Śukadeva Gosvāmī therefore assured him that there was no danger in Gokula. Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Thākura has sung: nāmāśraya kari’ yatane tumi, thākaha āpana kāje. Everyone is thus advised to seek shelter in the chanting of the Hare Krishna mahā-mantra and remain engaged in his own occupational duty. There is no loss in this, and the gain is tremendous. Even from a material point of view, everyone should take to chanting the Hare Krishna mantra to be saved from all kinds of danger. This world is full of danger (padam padam yad vipadām). Therefore we should be encouraged to chant the Hare Krishna mahā-mantra so that in our family, society, neighborhood and nation, everything will be smooth and free from danger.

Rākshasīs learn mystic powers by which they can travel in outer space without machines. In some parts of India there are still such mystical witches, who can sit on a stick and use it to fly from one place to another in a very short time. This art was known to Pūtanā. Assuming the feature of a very beautiful woman, she entered Nanda Mahārāja’s abode, Gokula.

Demons are always busy creating disturbances and killing. But the child lying on the bed in the house of Nanda Mahārāja was meant to kill many demons.

In this verse there are two perplexities. When Krishna saw that Pūtanā had come to kill Him, He thought that since this woman was present with motherly affection, although artificial, He had to offer her a benediction. Therefore He looked at her with a little perplexity and then closed His eyes again. Pūtanā Rākshasī also was perplexed. She was not intelligent enough to understand that she was taking a sleeping snake on her lap; she thought the snake to be an ordinary rope. The two words antakam and anantam are contradictory. Because of not being intelligent, Pūtanā thought that she could kill her antakam, the source of her annihilation; but because He is ananta, unlimited, no one can kill Him.

Although Pūtanā was an outsider and although she personified fierce death because the determination within her heart was to kill the child, when she directly came and placed the child on her lap to offer the child her breast to suck, the mothers were so captivated by her beauty that they did not prohibit her. Sometimes a beautiful woman is dangerous because everyone, being captivated by external beauty (māyā-mohita), is unable to understand what is in her mind. Those who are captivated by the beauty of the external energy are called māyā-mohita. Mohitam nābhijānāti mām ebhyah param avyayam (Bg. 7.13). Na te viduh svārtha-gatim hi vishnum durāśayā ye bahir-artha-māninah (Bhāg. 7.5.31). Here, of course, the two mothers Rohinī and Yaśodā were not māyā-mohita, deluded by the external energy, but to develop the pastimes of the Lord, they were captivated by Yoga-māyā. Such māyā-moha is the action of Yoga-māyā.

Lord Krishna was not angry at Pūtanā for His own sake. Rather, He was angry because the Rākshasī had killed so many small children in Vrajabhūmi. Therefore He decided that she should be punished by having to forfeit her life.

The Rākshasī was severely punished by Krishna. She threw her arms and legs about, and Krishna also began to kick her with His legs to punish her properly for her mischievous activities.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura remarks that in this verse the word rasā refers to the planetary systems below the earth, such as Rasātala, Atala, Vitala, Sutala and Talātala.

Pūtanā was a great Rākshasī who knew the art of covering her original form by mystic power, but when she was killed her mystic power could not hide her, and she appeared in her original form.

Because of the grievous hurt imposed upon her by Krishna’s sucking her breast, Pūtanā, while dying, not only left the room but abandoned the village and fell down in the pasturing ground in her gigantic body.

Here is the Supreme Personality of Godhead — Krishna. Although the Rākshasī Pūtanā could increase or decrease her bodily size by her mystic abilities and thus gain proportionate power, the Supreme Personality of Godhead is equally powerful in any transcendental form. Krishna is the real Personality of Godhead because whether as a child or as a grown-up young man, He is the same person. He does not need to become powerful by meditation or any other external endeavor. Therefore when the greatly powerful Pūtanā expanded her body, Krishna remained the same small child and fearlessly played on the upper portion of her breast. Shadaiśvarya-pūrna. Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is always full in all potencies, regardless of whether He is present in this form or that. His potencies are always full. Parāsya śaktir vividhaiva śrūyate. He can display all potencies under any circumstances.

When Krishna was saved from such a great danger, mother Yaśodā and Rohinī were principally concerned, and the other elderly gopīs, who were almost equally concerned, followed the activities of mother Yaśodā and Rohinī. Here we find that in household affairs, ladies could take charge of protecting a child simply by taking help from the cow. As described here, they knew how to wave about the switch of a cow so as to protect the child from all types of danger. There are so many facilities afforded by cow protection, but people have forgotten these arts. The importance of protecting cows is therefore stressed by Krishna in Bhagavad-gītā (krishi-go-rakshya-vānijyam vaiśya-karma svabhāvajam). Even now in the Indian villages surrounding Vrindāvana, the villagers live happily simply by giving protection to the cow. They keep cow dung very carefully and dry it to use as fuel. They keep a sufficient stock of grains, and because of giving protection to the cows, they have sufficient milk and milk products to solve all economic problems. Simply by giving protection to the cow, the villagers live so peacefully. Even the urine and stool of cows have medicinal value.

Nyāsa-mantra includes ācamana, or first drinking a sip of water kept in the right hand. There are different vishnu-mantras to purify the body. The gopīs, and in fact any householders, knew the process for being purified by chanting Vedic hymns. The gopīs executed this process first to purify themselves and then to purify the child Krishna. One executes the process of anga-nyāsa and kara-nyāsa simply by drinking a little sip of water and chanting the mantra. The mantra is preceded with the first letter of the name, followed by anusvāra and the word namah: om namo ’jas tavānghrī avyāt, mam mano manimāms tava jānunī avyāt, and so on. By losing Indian culture, Indian householders have forgotten how to execute the anga-nyāsa and are simply busy in sense gratification, without any advanced knowledge of human civilization.

Even in the houses of the cultivators, who were not very advanced in the modern ways of civilization, the ladies used to know how to chant mantras to give protection to children with the help of cow dung and cow urine. This was a simple and practical way to give the greatest protection from the greatest dangers. People should know how to do this, for this is a part of Vedic civilization.

As stated in the Brahma-samhitā (5.33):

“I worship the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Govinda, who is the original person — nondual, infallible, and without beginning. Although He expands into unlimited forms, He is still the original, and although He is the oldest person, He always appears as a fresh youth. Such eternal, blissful and all-knowing forms of the Lord cannot be understood by the academic wisdom of the Vedas, but they are always manifest to pure, unalloyed devotees.”

While decorating the body with tilaka, we give protection to the body by chanting twelve names of Vishnu. Although Govinda, or Lord Vishnu, is one, He has different names and forms with which to act differently. But if one cannot remember all the names at one time, one may simply chant, “Lord Vishnu, Lord Vishnu, Lord Vishnu,” and always think of Lord Vishnu. Vishnor ārādhanam param: this is the highest form of worship. If one remembers Vishnu always, even though one is disturbed by many bad elements, one can be protected without a doubt. The Āyurveda-śāstra recommends, aushadhi cintayet vishnum: even while taking medicine, one should remember Vishnu, because the medicine is not all and all and Lord Vishnu is the real protector. The material world is full of danger (padam padam yad vipadām). Therefore one must become a Vaishnava and think of Vishnu constantly. This is made easier by the chanting of the Hare Krishna mahā-mantra. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has recommended, kīrtanīyah sadā harih param vijayate śrī-krishna-sankīrtanam, and kīrtanād eva krishnasya mukta-sangah param vrajet.

When a baby drinks milk from the breast of his mother, this is a good sign of health. So the elderly gopīs were not satisfied with chanting mantras to give protection to Krishna; they also tested whether their child’s health was in order. When the child sucked the breast, this confirmed that He was healthy, and when the gopīs were fully satisfied, they had the child lie down on His bed.

Nanda Mahārāja’s wonder may be understood in various ways. First of all, the cowherd men had never before seen such a gigantic body in Vrindāvana, and therefore they were struck with wonder. Then they began to consider where such a body had come from, whether it had dropped from the sky, or whether, by some mistake or by the power of some mystic yoginī, they had come to some place other than Vrindāvana. They could not actually guess what had happened, and therefore they were struck with wonder.

This verse illustrates the difference between kshatriyas and innocent vaiśyas. By studying the political situation, Vasudeva could see what would happen, whereas Nanda Mahārāja, the king of the agriculturalists, could only guess that Vasudeva was a great saintly person and had developed mystic powers. Vasudeva actually had all mystic powers under his control; otherwise he could not have become the father of Krishna. But in fact he foresaw the calamities in Vraja by studying Kamsa’s political activities and thus warned Nanda Mahārāja to take precautions, although Nanda Mahārāja thought that Vasudeva had predicted this incident through wonderful mystic powers. By mystic powers gained through the practice of hatha-yoga, one can study and understand the future.

It is the practice that after a snake has been killed, its body is cut into various pieces for fear that it may come to life again simply by interacting with air. Merely killing a serpent is not sufficient; after it is killed, it must be cut to pieces and burned, and then the danger will be over. Pūtanā resembled a great serpent, and therefore the cowherd men took the same precautions by burning her body to ashes.

Such are the effects of Krishna consciousness. If one somehow or other becomes Krishna conscious by applying his senses in the service of the Lord, one is immediately freed from material contamination. Śrinvatām sva-kathāh krishnah punya-śravana-kīrtanah (Bhāg. 1.2.17). Hearing about the activities of Krishna is the beginning of purified life. Punya-śravana-kīrtanah: simply by hearing and chanting, one becomes purified. Therefore, in discharging devotional service, śravana-kīrtana (hearing and chanting) is most important. Then, with purified senses, one begins to render service to the Lord (hrishīkena hrishīkeśa-sevanam). Bhaktir ucyate: this is called bhakti. When Pūtanā was somehow or other, directly or indirectly, induced to render some service to the Lord by feeding Him with her breast, she was immediately purified, so much so that when her nasty material body was burnt to ashes, it gave off the fragrance of aguru, the most agreeably scented herb.

Pūtanā had no affection for Krishna; rather, she was envious and wanted to kill Him. Nonetheless, because with or without knowledge she offered her breast, she attained the highest achievement in life. But the offerings of devotees attracted to Krishna in parental love are always sincere. A mother likes to offer something to her child with affection and love; there is no question of envy. So here we can make a comparative study. If Pūtanā could attain such an exalted position in spiritual life by neglectfully, enviously making an offering to Krishna, what is to be said of mother Yaśodā and the other gopīs, who served Krishna with such great affection and love, offering everything for Krishna’s satisfaction? The gopīs automatically achieved the highest perfection. Therefore Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu recommended the affection of the gopīs, either in maternal affection or in conjugal love, as the highest perfection in life (ramyā kācid upāsanā vrajavadhū-vargena yā kalpitā).

These verses explain how devotional service rendered to the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whether directly or indirectly, knowingly or unknowingly, becomes successful. Pūtanā was neither a devotee nor a nondevotee; she was actually a demoniac witch instructed by Kamsa to kill Krishna. Nonetheless, in the beginning she assumed the form of a very beautiful woman and approached Krishna exactly like an affectionate mother, so that mother Yaśodā and Rohinī did not doubt her sincerity. The Lord took all this into consideration, and thus she was automatically promoted to a position like that of mother Yaśodā. As explained by Viśvanātha Cakravartī Thākura, there are various roles one may play in such a position. Pūtanā was immediately promoted to Vaikunthaloka, which is also sometimes described as Svarga. The Svarga mentioned in this verse is not the material heavenly planet, but the transcendental world. In Vaikunthaloka, Pūtanā attained the position of a nurse (dhātry-ucitām), as described by Uddhava. Pūtanā was elevated to the position of a nurse and maidservant in Goloka Vrindāvana to assist mother Yaśodā.

The advantage of Krishna consciousness is described herein. Krishna consciousness gradually develops on the transcendental platform. One may think of Krishna as the supreme personality, one may think of Krishna as the supreme master, one may think of Krishna as the supreme friend, one may think of Krishna as the supreme son, or one may think of Krishna as the supreme conjugal lover. If one is connected with Krishna in any of these transcendental relationships, the course of one’s material life is understood to have already ended. As confirmed in Bhagavad-gītā (4.9), tyaktvā deham punar janma naiti mām eti: for such devotees, going back home, back to Godhead, is guaranteed. Na punah kalpate rājan samsāro jñāna-sambhavah. This verse also guarantees that devotees who constantly think of Krishna in a particular relationship will never return to this material world. In this material world of samsāra, there are the same relationships. One thinks, “Here is my son,” “Here is my wife,” “Here is my lover,” or “Here is my friend.” But these relationships are temporary illusions. Ajñāna-sambhavah: such a consciousness awakens in ignorance. But when the same relationships awaken in Krishna consciousness, one’s spiritual life is revived, and one is guaranteed to return home, back to Godhead. Even though the gopīs who were friends of Rohinī and mother Yaśodā and who allowed their breasts to be sucked by Krishna were not directly Krishna’s mothers, they all had the same chance as Rohinī and Yaśodā to go back to Godhead and act as Krishna’s mothers-in-law, servants and so on. The word samsāra refers to attachment for one’s body, home, husband or wife, and children, but although the gopīs and all the other inhabitants of Vrindāvana had the same affection and attachment for husband and home, their central affection was for Krishna in some transcendental relationship, and therefore they were guaranteed to be promoted to Goloka Vrindāvana in the next life, to live with Krishna eternally in spiritual happiness. The easiest way to attain spiritual elevation, to be liberated from this material world, and to go back home, back to Godhead, is recommended by Bhaktivinoda Thākura: krishnera samsāra kara chādi’ anācāra. One should give up all sinful activities and remain in the family of Krishna. Then one’s liberation is guaranteed.

The aroma of the smoke emanating from a burning fire is not always very favorable. Therefore upon smelling such a wonderful fragrance, the inhabitants of Vraja were astonished.

Nanda Mahārāja could not understand how the inhabitants of his house had allowed Pūtanā to enter the house, nor could he imagine the gravity of the situation. He did not understand that Krishna had wanted to kill Pūtanā and that His pastimes were performed by Yoga-māyā. Nanda Mahārāja simply thought that someone had entered his house and created havoc. This was Nanda Mahārāja’s simplicity.

The incident in which the great witch attempted to kill the child but was killed herself is certainly wonderful. Therefore this verse uses the word adbhutam, meaning “specifically wonderful.” Krishna has left us many wonderful narrations about Him. Simply by reading these narrations, as they are described in Krishna, The Supreme Personality of Godhead, one gains salvation from this material world and gradually develops attachment to and devotion for Govinda, Ādi-purusha.