Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, seeing that the Yamunā River had been contaminated by the black snake Kāliya, desired to purify the river, and thus the Lord banished him from it.
King Parīkṣit inquired: O learned sage, please explain how the Supreme Personality of Godhead chastised the serpent Kāliya within the unfathomable waters of the Yamunā, and how it was that Kāliya had been living there for so many ages.
O brāhmaṇa, the unlimited Supreme Personality of Godhead freely acts according to His own desires. Who could be satiated when hearing the nectar of the magnanimous pastimes He performed as a cowherd boy in Vṛndāvana?
Śrī Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Within the river Kālindī [Yamunā] was a lake inhabited by the serpent Kāliya, whose fiery poison constantly heated and boiled its waters. Indeed, the vapors thus created were so poisonous that birds flying over the contaminated lake would fall down into it.
In this regard the ācāryas explain that the Kāliya lake was situated apart from the main current of the river; otherwise the Yamunā’s waters would have been poisonous even in cities like Mathurā and in other places farther away.
The wind blowing over that deadly lake carried droplets of water to the shore. Simply by coming in contact with that poisonous breeze, all vegetation and creatures on the shore died.
The word sthira, “unmoving creatures,” refers to various types of vegetation including trees, and jaṅgama refers to moving creatures such as animals, reptiles, birds and insects. Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has quoted a further description of this lake from the Śrī Hari-vaṁśa (Viṣṇu-parva 11.42, 11.44 and 11.46):
“The lake was quite wide — eight miles across at some points — and even the demigods could not cross over it. The water in the lake was very deep and, like the immovable depths of the ocean, could not be agitated. Approaching the lake was difficult, for its shores were covered with holes in which serpents lived. All around the lake was a fog generated by the fire of the serpents’ poison, and this powerful fire would at once burn up every blade of grass that happened to fall into the water. For a distance of eight miles from the lake, the atmosphere was most unpleasant.”
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī states that by the mystical science of jala-stambha, making solid items out of water, Kāliya had built his own city within the lake.
Lord Kṛṣṇa saw how the Kāliya serpent had polluted the Yamunā River with his terribly powerful poison. Since Kṛṣṇa had descended from the spiritual world specifically to subdue envious demons, the Lord immediately climbed to the top of a very high kadamba tree and prepared Himself for battle. He tightened His belt, slapped His arms and then jumped into the poisonous water.
According to the ācāryas, Lord Kṛṣṇa also tied back the locks of His hair as He prepared to do battle with Kāliya.
When the Supreme Personality of Godhead landed in the serpent’s lake, the snakes there became extremely agitated and began breathing heavily, further polluting it with volumes of poison. The force of the Lord’s entrance into the lake caused it to overflow on all sides, and poisonous, fearsome waves flooded the surrounding lands up to a distance of one hundred bow-lengths. This is not at all amazing, however, for the Supreme Lord possesses infinite strength.
Kṛṣṇa began sporting in Kāliya’s lake like a lordly elephant — swirling His mighty arms and making the water resound in various ways. When Kāliya heard these sounds, he understood that someone was trespassing in his lake. The serpent could not tolerate this and immediately came forward.
According to the ācāryas, Lord Kṛṣṇa was producing wonderful musical sounds within the water simply by splashing His hands and arms.
Kāliya saw that Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who wore yellow silken garments, was very delicate, His attractive body shining like a glowing white cloud, His chest bearing the mark of Śrīvatsa, His face smiling beautifully and His feet resembling the whorl of a lotus flower. The Lord was playing fearlessly in the water. Despite His wonderful appearance, the envious Kāliya furiously bit Him on the chest and then completely enwrapped Him in his coils.
When the members of the cowherd community, who had accepted Kṛṣṇa as their dearmost friend, saw Him enveloped in the snake’s coils, motionless, they were greatly disturbed. They had offered Kṛṣṇa everything — their very selves, their families, their wealth, wives and all pleasures. At the sight of the Lord in the clutches of the Kāliya snake, their intelligence became deranged by grief, lamentation and fear, and thus they fell to the ground.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī explains that the cowherd boys, along with some cowherd men and farmers who happened to be in the vicinity and who were also devotees of Kṛṣṇa, fell to the ground just like trees that had been cut at the root.
The cows, bulls and female calves, in great distress, called out piteously to Kṛṣṇa. Fixing their eyes on Him, they stood still in fear, as if ready to cry but too shocked to shed tears.
In the Vṛndāvana area there then arose all three types of fearful omens — those on the earth, those in the sky and those in the bodies of living creatures — which announced imminent danger.
According to Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī, the omens were as follows: on the earth there were disturbing tremors, in the sky there were meteors falling, and in the bodies of creatures there was shivering, as well as quivering of the left eye and other parts of the body. These omens announce imminent danger.
Seeing the inauspicious omens, Nanda Mahārāja and the other cowherd men were fearful, for they knew that Kṛṣṇa had gone to herd the cows that day without His elder brother, Balarāma. Because they had dedicated their minds to Kṛṣṇa, accepting Him as their very life, they were unaware of His great power and opulence. Thus they concluded that the inauspicious omens indicated He had met with death, and they were overwhelmed with grief, lamentation and fear. All the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana, including the children, women and elderly persons, thought of Kṛṣṇa just as a cow thinks of her helpless young calf, and thus these poor, suffering people rushed out of the village, intent upon finding Him.
The Supreme Lord Balarāma, the master of all transcendental knowledge, smiled and said nothing when He saw the residents of Vṛndāvana in such distress, since He understood the extraordinary power of His younger brother.
Śrī Balarāma is the plenary expansion of Lord Kṛṣṇa and is thus nondifferent from Him. They are, in fact, the same Absolute Truth manifest in separate forms. According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Lord Balarāma was laughing because He thought, “Kṛṣṇa never cares to play with Me in My form of Śeṣa Nāga, but now He is playing with this ordinary, mundane snake named Kāliya.”
The question may arise as to why Kṛṣṇa and Balarāma allowed Their loving devotees to suffer such great anguish during Kṛṣṇa’s temporary imprisonment within the coils of Kāliya. It must be remembered that because the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana were completely liberated souls, they did not experience material emotions. When they saw their beloved Kṛṣṇa in apparent danger, their love for Him intensified to the highest degree, and thus they merged completely into the ecstasy of love for Him. The whole situation has to be seen from the spiritual point of view, or it will not be seen at all.
The residents hurried toward the banks of the Yamunā in search of their dearmost Kṛṣṇa, following the path marked by His footprints, which bore the unique signs of the Personality of Godhead.
The footprints of Lord Kṛṣṇa, the master of the entire cowherd community, were marked with the lotus flower, barleycorn, elephant goad, thunderbolt and flag. My dear King Parīkṣit, seeing His footprints on the path among the cows’ hoofprints, the residents of Vṛndāvana rushed along in great haste.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī comments as follows: “Since Lord Kṛṣṇa had passed along the path some time previously, why weren’t His footprints, which were surrounded by those of cows, cowherd boys and so on, smudged over and brushed away? Why hadn’t His footprints been obliterated by those of the beasts and birds of Vṛndāvana forest? The answer is indicated by the word viś-pati, master of the cowherd community. Since Lord Kṛṣṇa is actually the wealth of all living beings, all the inhabitants of the forest of Vraja would carefully preserve His footprints as great treasures, the very ornaments of the earth. Thus no creature within Vṛndāvana would ever walk upon Lord Kṛṣṇa’s footprints.”
As they hurried along the path to the bank of the Yamunā River, they saw from a distance that Kṛṣṇa was in the lake, motionless within the coils of the black serpent. They further saw that the cowherd boys had fallen unconscious and that the animals were standing on all sides, crying out for Kṛṣṇa. Seeing all this, the residents of Vṛndāvana were overwhelmed with anguish and confusion.
In their grief and panic, the residents of Vṛndāvana tried to find out whether Kāliya had forcibly dragged young Kṛṣṇa from the shore into the water, or whether Kṛṣṇa had Himself jumped from the shore and fallen into the clutches of the snake. They could not understand anything about the situation, and Kṛṣṇa’s cowherd boyfriends, being unconscious, were unable to tell them anything. The cows and calves were crying out for Kṛṣṇa, and thus the whole situation was overwhelming and created a state of shock and panic among the residents of Vṛndāvana.
When the young gopīs, whose minds were constantly attached to Kṛṣṇa, the unlimited Supreme Lord, saw that He was now within the grips of the serpent, they remembered His loving friendship, His smiling glances and His talks with them. Burning with great sorrow, they saw the entire universe as void.
Although the elder gopīs were feeling just as much distress as she and were pouring forth a flood of sorrowful tears, they had to forcibly hold back Kṛṣṇa’s mother, whose consciousness was totally absorbed in her son. Standing like corpses, with their eyes fixed upon His face, these gopīs each took turns recounting the pastimes of the darling of Vraja.
Lord Balarāma then saw that Nanda Mahārāja and the other cowherd men, who had dedicated their very lives to Kṛṣṇa, were beginning to enter the serpent’s lake. As the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Lord Balarāma fully knew Lord Kṛṣṇa’s actual power, and therefore He restrained them.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī explains that Lord Balarāma checked some of the cowherd men by speaking to them, others by physically holding them and still others by casting upon them His potent smiling glance. Distraught over the situation, they were prepared to give up their lives for Lord Kṛṣṇa by entering the serpent’s lake.
The Lord remained for some time within the coils of the serpent, imitating the behavior of an ordinary mortal. But when He understood that the women, children and other residents of His village of Gokula were in acute distress because of their love for Him, their only shelter and goal in life, He immediately rose up from the bonds of the Kāliya serpent.
His coils tormented by the expanding body of the Lord, Kāliya released Him. In great anger the serpent then raised his hoods high and stood still, breathing heavily. His nostrils appeared like vessels for cooking poison, and the staring eyes in his face like firebrands. Thus the serpent looked at the Lord.
Again and again Kāliya licked his lips with his bifurcated tongues as He stared at Kṛṣṇa with a glance full of terrible, poisonous fire. But Kṛṣṇa playfully circled around him, just as Garuḍa would play with a snake. In response, Kāliya also moved about, looking for an opportunity to bite the Lord.
Lord Kṛṣṇa moved around the serpent so skillfully that Kāliya could find no opportunity to bite Him. Thus the snake was defeated by Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental agility.
Having severely depleted the serpent’s strength with His relentless circling, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the origin of everything, pushed down Kāliya’s raised shoulders and mounted his broad serpentine heads. Thus Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, the original master of all fine arts, began to dance, His lotus feet deeply reddened by the touch of the numerous jewels upon the serpent’s heads.
Śrī Hari-vaṁśa states, śiraḥ sa kṛṣṇo jagrāha sva-hastenāvanamya: “Kṛṣṇa grabbed Kāliya’s head with His hand and forced it to bow down.” Most people in this world are quite reluctant to bow down to the Supreme Person, the Absolute Truth. In the contaminated state called material consciousness, we conditioned souls become proud of our insignificant position and are thus reluctant to bow our heads before the Lord. Yet just as Lord Kṛṣṇa forcibly pushed Kāliya’s heads down and thus defeated him, the Supreme Lord’s energy in the form of irresistible time kills all conditioned souls and thus forces them to bow down their arrogant heads. We should therefore give up the artificial position of material life and become faithful servants of the Supreme Lord, enthusiastically bowing down at His lotus feet.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that Lord Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet became red like copper because of their contact with the numerous hard jewels upon the heads of Kāliya. Lord Kṛṣṇa, with those glowing reddish feet, then began to demonstrate His artistic skill by dancing on the unsteady, moving surface of the serpent’s hoods. This extraordinary demonstration of dancing skill was meant for the pleasure of the young women of Vṛndāvana, who at this phase of their relationship with Kṛṣṇa were seriously falling in love with Him.
Seeing the Lord dancing, His servants in the heavenly planets — the Gandharvas, Siddhas, sages, Cāraṇas and wives of the demigods — immediately arrived there. With great pleasure they began accompanying the Lord’s dancing by playing drums such as mṛdaṅgas, paṇavas and ānakas. They also made offerings of songs, flowers and prayers.
When the demigods and other residents of higher planetary systems became aware that Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa was personally putting on a wonderful demonstration of the art of dancing, they immediately came to offer their services. Dancing becomes more enjoyable and beautiful to watch when it is accompanied by expert drum-playing, singing and the chanting of prayers. The artistic atmosphere was also enhanced by the showering of a multitude of flowers upon Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who was blissfully engaged in dancing upon the hoods of the Kāliya serpent.
My dear King, Kāliya had 101 prominent heads, and when one of them would not bow down, Lord Śrī Kṛṣṇa, who inflicts punishment on cruel wrong-doers, would smash that stubborn head by striking it with His feet. Then, as Kāliya entered his death throes, he began wheeling his heads around and vomiting ghastly blood from his mouths and nostrils. The serpent thus experienced extreme pain and misery.
Exuding poisonous waste from his eyes, Kāliya, would occasionally dare to raise up one of his heads, which would breathe heavily with anger. Then the Lord would dance on it and subdue it, forcing it to bow down with His foot. The demigods took each of these exhibitions as an opportunity to worship Him, the primeval Personality of Godhead, with showers of flowers.
My dear King Parīkṣit, Lord Kṛṣṇa’s wonderful, powerful dancing trampled and broke all of Kāliya’s one thousand hoods. Then the serpent, profusely vomiting blood from his mouths, finally recognized Śrī Kṛṣṇa to be the eternal Personality of Godhead, the supreme master of all moving and nonmoving beings, Śrī Nārāyaṇa. Thus within his mind Kāliya took shelter of the Lord.
In Chapter Sixteen of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Śrīla Prabhupāda points out that whereas previously Kāliya was vomiting poison, now his poison was exhausted and he began to vomit blood. Thus he had been cleansed of the vile contamination within his heart that had manifested as serpent’s venom. The word smṛtvā, “remembering,” is very significant here. The wives of Kāliya were actually serious devotees of Lord Kṛṣṇa, and according to the ācāryas they had often tried to convince their husband to surrender to Him. Finally, finding himself in unbearable agony, Kāliya remembered his wives’ advice and took shelter of the Lord. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura explains that Kāliya’s archrival had traditionally been Garuḍa, the carrier of Viṣṇu. But now Kāliya realized that he was fighting an opponent who was thousands of times stronger than Garuḍa and who therefore could be only the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Thus Kāliya took shelter of Lord Kṛṣṇa.
When Kāliya’s wives saw how the serpent had become so fatigued from the excessive weight of Lord Kṛṣṇa, who carries the entire universe in His abdomen, and how Kāliya’s umbrellalike hoods had been shattered by the striking of Kṛṣṇa’s heels, they felt great distress. With their clothing, ornaments and hair scattered in disarray, they then approached the eternal Personality of Godhead.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Kāliya’s wives had been disgusted with their husband because of his demoniac activities. They had been thinking, “If this atheist is killed by the punishment of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, then let him be killed. We will become widows and engage in the worship of the Supreme Lord.” But then the ladies noticed Kāliya’s facial expression and other bodily features, and they understood that Kāliya had indeed taken shelter of the Lord within his mind. Seeing that he was manifesting symptoms of humility, remorse, regret and doubt, they thought, “Just see how fortunate we are! Our husband has now become a Vaiṣṇava. Therefore we must now endeavor to protect him.” They felt affection for their repentant husband and severe distress because of his miserable position, and thus all together they went into the presence of the Supreme Lord.
Their minds very much disturbed, those saintly ladies placed their children before them and then bowed down to the Lord of all creatures, laying their bodies flat upon the ground. They desired the liberation of their sinful husband and the shelter of the Supreme Lord, the giver of ultimate shelter, and thus they folded their hands in supplication and approached Him.
The wives of the Kāliya serpent said: The punishment this offender has been subjected to is certainly just. After all, You have incarnated within this world to curb down envious and cruel persons. You are so impartial that You look equally upon Your enemies and Your own sons, for when You impose a punishment on a living being You know it to be for his ultimate benefit.
What You have done here is actually mercy for us, since the punishment You give to the wicked certainly drives away all their contamination. Indeed, because this conditioned soul, our husband, is so sinful that he has assumed the body of a serpent, Your anger toward him is obviously to be understood as Your mercy.
Śrīla Madhvācārya points out in this connection that when a pious person suffers in this world, he realizes, “The punishment the Supreme Lord is meting out to me is actually His causeless mercy.” Envious persons, however, even after being punished by the Lord for their purification, continue to envy Him and be resentful, and this attitude is the reason for their continued failure to understand the Absolute Truth.
Did our husband carefully perform austerities in a previous life, with his mind free of pride and full of respect for others? Is that why You are pleased with him? Or did he in some previous existence carefully execute religious duties with compassion for all living beings, and is that why You, the life of all living beings, are now satisfied with him?
In this regard Śrīla Prabhupāda comments in his Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Chapter Sixteen: “The Nāgapatnīs confirm that one cannot come in contact with Kṛṣṇa without having executed pious activities in devotional service in his previous lives. As Lord Caitanya advised in His Śikṣāṣṭaka, one has to execute devotional service by humbly chanting the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra, thinking oneself lower than the straw in the street and not expecting honor for himself but offering all kinds of honor to others. The Nāgapatnīs were astonished that, although Kāliya had the body of a serpent as the result of grievous sinful activities, at the same time he was in contact with the Lord to the extent that the Lord’s lotus feet were touching his hoods. Certainly this was not the ordinary result of pious activities. These two contradictory facts astonished them.”
O Lord, we do not know how the serpent Kāliya has attained this great opportunity of being touched by the dust of Your lotus feet. For this end, the goddess of fortune performed austerities for centuries, giving up all other desires and observing austere vows.
Those who have attained the dust of Your lotus feet never hanker for the kingship of heaven, limitless sovereignty, the position of Brahmā or rulership over the earth. They are not interested even in the perfections of yoga or in liberation itself.
O Lord, although this Kāliya, the king of the serpents, has taken birth in the mode of ignorance and is controlled by anger, he has achieved that which is difficult for others to achieve. Embodied souls, who are full of desires and are thus wandering in the cycle of birth and death, can have all benedictions manifested before their eyes simply by receiving the dust of Your lotus feet.
It is very rare for a conditioned soul to free himself from the contamination of illusion and thus become established in perfect consciousness of the Absolute Truth. And yet this benediction was achieved by the serpent Kāliya because the Lord personally danced upon the serpent’s hoods with His lotus feet. Although we conditioned souls may not receive the mercy of having the Lord dance on our head, we can receive the dust of the lotus feet of the Absolute through the Lord’s representative, the bona fide spiritual master, and thus go back home, back to Godhead, forever freed from the misery and ignorance of the mundane universe.
We offer our obeisances unto You, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Although present in the hearts of all living beings as the Supersoul, You are all-pervasive. Although the original shelter of all created material elements, You exist prior to their creation. And although the cause of everything, You are transcendental to all material cause and effect, being the Supreme Soul.
The beautiful Sanskrit poetry of this verse should be chanted out loud for the transcendental pleasure of the reciter and the hearer.
Obeisances unto You, the Absolute Truth, who are the reservoir of all transcendental consciousness and potency and the possessor of unlimited energies. Although completely free of material qualities and transformations, You are the prime mover of material nature.
Those who consider themselves intellectual, philosophic or rational should carefully note here that the Absolute Truth, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, is the ocean of all knowledge and consciousness. Thus surrendering unto the Supreme Lord does not entail giving up the method of rationally comprehending reality. Rather, one merges into the ocean of rational, logical comprehension. The Supreme Lord is the perfection of all sciences and all forms of knowledge, and only envious and trivial minds would deny this obvious fact.
Obeisances unto You, who are time itself, the shelter of time and the witness of time in all its phases. You are the universe, and also its separate observer. You are its creator, and also the totality of all its causes.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, although appearing in different incarnations, can never be limited by time, since He is time itself, the shelter of time, and the witness of time in all its phases.
Obeisances unto You, who are the ultimate soul of the physical elements, of the subtle basis of perception, of the senses, of the vital air of life, and of the mind, intelligence and consciousness. By Your arrangement the infinitesimal spirit souls falsely identify with the three modes of material nature, and their perception of their own true self thus becomes clouded. We offer our obeisances unto You, the unlimited Supreme Lord, the supremely subtle one, the omniscient Personality of Godhead, who are always fixed in unchanging transcendence, who sanction the opposing views of different philosophies, and who are the power upholding expressed ideas and the words that express them.
We offer our obeisances again and again to You, who are the basis of all authoritative evidence, who are the author and ultimate source of the revealed scriptures, and who have manifested Yourself in those Vedic literatures encouraging sense gratification as well as in those encouraging renunciation of the material world.
If we did not have the powers of perception and cognition, evidence could not be transmitted, and if we had no tendency to believe in particular modes of evidence, persuasion could not take place. All of these processes — perception, cognition, persuasion and transmission — take place through the various potencies of the Supreme Lord. The Supreme Lord Kṛṣṇa is Himself the greatest scholar and intellectual being. He manifests the transcendental scriptures within the hearts of great devotees like Brahmā and Nārada, and in addition He incarnates as Vedavyāsa, the compiler of all Vedic knowledge. In multifarious ways the Lord generates a variety of religious scriptures, which gradually bring the conditioned souls through the various phases of reentry into the kingdom of God.
We offer our obeisances to Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Rāma, the sons of Vasudeva, and to Lord Pradyumna and Lord Aniruddha. We offer our respectful obeisances unto the master of all the saintly devotees of Viṣṇu.
Obeisances to You, O Lord, who manifest varieties of material and spiritual qualities. You disguise Yourself with the material qualities, and yet the functioning of those same material qualities ultimately reveals Your existence. You stand apart from the material qualities as a witness and can be fully known only by Your devotees.
The word guṇa conveys various meanings: the three basic qualities of material nature, i.e., goodness, passion and ignorance; excellent qualities one manifests because of piety and spiritual achievement; or the internal senses, such as the mind and intelligence. The word pradīpāya means “unto Him who manifests or illumines.” Thus here the Nāgapatnīs are addressing the Supreme Lord as “He who manifests all material and spiritual qualities and who causes the living entities to be conscious.” One can see the Lord by going beyond the screen of material nature, and therefore He is called guṇātma-cchādanāya. If one methodically and intelligently studies the functioning of the material qualities, he will ultimately conclude that there is a Supreme Personality of Godhead and that He exhibits His illusory potency to bewilder those who do not surrender unto Him.
The Lord is never affected by the modes of nature, being their witness, and thus He is called guṇa-draṣṭre. The word sva indicates “one’s own,” and thus sva-saṁvide means that Lord Kṛṣṇa can be known only by His own people, the devotees, and also that ultimately only the Lord can know Himself perfectly. Therefore we should take Lord Kṛṣṇa’s instructions in Bhagavad-gītā and immediately come to the right conclusion: full surrender to the Lord’s lotus feet. Thus we should humbly glorify the Lord, following the example of the Nāgapatnīs.
O Lord Hṛṣīkeśa, master of the senses, please let us offer our obeisances unto You, whose pastimes are inconceivably glorious. Your existence can be inferred from the necessity for a creator and revealer of all cosmic manifestations. But although Your devotees can understand You in this way, to the nondevotees You remain silent, absorbed in self-satisfaction.
Obeisances unto You, who know the destination of all things, superior and inferior, and who are the presiding regulator of all that be. You are distinct from the universal creation, and yet You are the basis upon which the illusion of material creation evolves, and also the witness of this illusion. Indeed, You are the root cause of the entire world.
The words para and avara indicate superior, subtle elements and inferior, gross ones. The words also indicate superior personalities — devotees of the Lord — and inferior personalities, who are unaware of the glories of God. Lord Kṛṣṇa knows the destiny of all superior and inferior entities, animate and inanimate, and as the Supreme Absolute Truth He remains in His unique position above everything, as indicated by the word sarvādhyakṣāya.
O almighty Lord, although You have no reason to become involved in material activity, still You act through Your eternal potency of time to arrange for the creation, maintenance and destruction of this universe. You do this by awakening the distinct functions of each of the modes of nature, which before the creation lie dormant. Simply by Your glance You perfectly execute all these activities of cosmic control in a sporting mood.
Sceptics may question why the Supreme Lord has created the material world, which is full of birth, maintenance and death. Here the Nāgapatnīs point out that the Lord’s pastimes are amogha, beyond any discrepancy. Śrī Kṛṣṇa actually desires that all conditioned souls live with Him in His eternal kingdom, but those forgetful souls who are inimical to their loving relationship with God must go to the material world and be subjected to the conditions of time. The fortunate conditioned souls are startled into remembrance of their actual position as loving servants of the Lord, and from within the heart the Lord then encourages them to come back home, back to Godhead, where time is conspicuous by its absence and where eternal, blissful existence supersedes the dramatic but disturbing functions of cosmic creation and annihilation.
Therefore all material bodies throughout the three worlds — those that are peaceful, in the mode of goodness; those that are agitated, in the mode of passion; and those that are foolish, in the mode of ignorance — all are Your creations. Still, those living entities whose bodies are in the mode of goodness are especially dear to You, and it is to maintain them and protect their religious principles that You are now present on the earth.
At least once, a master should tolerate an offense committed by his child or subject. O supreme peaceful Soul, You should therefore forgive our foolish husband, who did not understand who You are.
Because of their extreme anxiety, in this verse Kāliya’s wives mention the same idea twice: that the Supreme Lord should kindly forgive their foolish husband. The Supreme Lord is śāntātmā, the supreme peaceful Soul, and therefore the Nāgapatnīs suggest it would be proper for Him to overlook, at least this once, the great offense committed by the ignorant Kāliya.
O Supreme Lord, please be merciful. It is proper for the saintly to feel compassion for women like us. This serpent is about to give up his life. Please give us back our husband, who is our life and soul.
Now please tell us, Your maidservants, what we should do. Certainly anyone who faithfully executes Your order is automatically freed from all fear.
The surrender of Kāliya’s wives was now complete, and Lord Kṛṣṇa immediately gave them His mercy, as described in the following verses.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Thus praised by the Nāgapatnīs, the Supreme Personality of Godhead released the serpent Kāliya, who had fallen unconscious, his heads battered by the striking of the Lord’s lotus feet.
According to Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, Lord Kṛṣṇa, upon reaching His decision, immediately jumped down from Kāliya’s hoods and stood before the serpent and his wives. We should remember that when Lord Kṛṣṇa executed these pastimes, He was just a young village boy in Vṛndāvana.
Kāliya slowly regained his vital force and sensory functions. Then, breathing loudly and painfully, the poor serpent addressed Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in humble submission.
The serpent Kāliya said: Our very birth as a snake has made us envious, ignorant and constantly angry. O my Lord, it is so difficult for people to give up their conditioned nature, by which they identify with that which is unreal.
Śrīla Sanātana Gosvāmī points out that because of his wretched condition, Kāliya was unable to compose original prayers to the Lord, and thus he paraphrased some of the prayers offered by his wives. The word asad-graha indicates that a conditioned soul seizes upon impermanent and impure things such as his own body, the bodies of others, and other countless varieties of material sense objects. The ultimate result of such material attachment is frustration, disappointment and anguish — a fact that has now become crystal clear to the poor serpent Kāliya.
O supreme creator, it is You who generate this universe, composed of the variegated arrangement of the material modes, and in the process You manifest various kinds of personalities and species, varieties of sensory and physical strength, and varieties of mothers and fathers with variegated mentalities and forms.
Commenting on this verse, Śrīla Madhvācārya has quoted the Nārada Purāṇa as follows: “From Hiraṇyagarbha, Brahmā, comes the second creation of this universe, but the universe is primarily created by Viṣṇu Himself. Viṣṇu is thus the primary creator, and four-headed Brahmā is merely the secondary creator.”
O Supreme Personality of Godhead, among all the species within Your material creation, we serpents are by nature always enraged. Being thus deluded by Your illusory energy, which is very difficult to give up, how can we possibly give it up on our own?
Kāliya is here indirectly begging for the Lord’s mercy, realizing that on his own he can never become free from illusion and suffering. Only by surrendering to the Lord and obtaining His mercy can one be released from the painful conditions of material life.
O Lord, since You are the omniscient Lord of the universe, You are the actual cause of freedom from illusion. Please arrange for us whatever You consider proper, whether it be mercy or punishment.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: After hearing Kāliya’s words, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who was acting the role of a human being, replied: O serpent, you may not remain here any longer. Go back to the ocean immediately, accompanied by your retinue of children, wives, other relatives and friends. Let this river be enjoyed by the cows and humans.
If a mortal being attentively remembers My command to you — to leave Vṛndāvana and go to the ocean — and narrates this account at sunrise and sunset, he will never be afraid of you.
If one bathes in this place of My pastimes and offers the water of this lake to the demigods and other worshipable personalities, or if one observes a fast and duly worships and remembers Me, he is sure to become free from all sinful reactions.
According to the ācāryas, the Lord spoke this verse to make it clear to Kāliya that he could by no means remain in the Yamunā lake. Although the Lord had mercifully pardoned the serpent and ordered him to go to the ocean with all his associates, Kāliya should not even consider requesting to remain in the lake, because it was now to become a holy place for spiritual pilgrims.
Out of fear of Garuḍa, you left Ramaṇaka Island and came to take shelter of this lake. But because you are now marked with My footprints, Garuḍa will no longer try to eat you.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī continued: My dear King, having been released by Lord Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, whose activities are wonderful, Kāliya joined his wives in worshiping Him with great joy and reverence.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura comments as follows on this verse: “The word adbhuta-karmaṇā indicates the Lord’s wonderful activities of saving the residents of Vṛndāvana from Kāliya, saving Kāliya himself from Garuḍa, and bestowing grace upon both the victims of violence and the committer of that violence.” The word kṛṣṇena, “by Kṛṣṇa,” indicates that because Kāliya’s wives were great devotees of the Lord and offered Him loving affection, Kṛṣṇa withdrew (karṣaṇam) both Kāliya’s offense against the Lord’s devotee Garuḍa and that against the residents of Vṛndāvana, who were very dear to Him.
Kāliya worshiped the Lord of the universe by offering Him fine garments, along with necklaces, jewels and other valuable ornaments, wonderful scents and ointments, and a large garland of lotus flowers. Having thus pleased the Lord, whose flag is marked with the emblem of Garuḍa, Kāliya felt satisfied. Receiving the Lord’s permission to leave, Kāliya circumambulated Him and offered Him obeisances. Then, taking his wives, friends and children, he went to his island in the sea. The very moment Kāliya left, the Yamunā was immediately restored to her original condition, free from poison and full of nectarean water. This happened by the mercy of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who was manifesting a humanlike form to enjoy His pastimes.
Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura has commented extensively on this verse. To explain the word maṇibhiḥ — “(Kāliya worshiped the Lord) with jewels” — the ācārya has quoted from the Śrī Rādhā-kṛṣṇa-gaṇoddeśa-dīpikā, by Rūpa Gosvāmī, as follows:
“The Lord had made His Kaustubha gem enter the serpent’s lake, and then He arranged for it to be presented to Himself by the hands of Kāliya’s wives.” In other words, because Lord Kṛṣṇa wanted to act just like an ordinary human being, He made the transcendental Kaustubha gem invisible and caused it to enter within Kāliya’s treasury. Then when the appropriate moment came for Kāliya to worship the Lord with many different jewels and ornaments, the serpent’s wives, unaware of the Lord’s transcendental trick, presented Him with the Kaustubha gem, thinking it was simply one of the jewels in their possession.
The ācārya has further commented that the reason Lord Kṛṣṇa is described in this verse as garuḍa-dhvaja, “He whose flag is marked by the symbol of His carrier, Garuḍa,” is that Kāliya also desired to become Lord Kṛṣṇa’s carrier. Garuḍa and the serpents are originally related as brothers, and therefore Kāliya wanted to indicate to Lord Kṛṣṇa, “If You ever have to go to a distant place, You should also think of me as Your personal carrier. I am the servant of Your servant, and in the wink of an eye I can travel hundreds of millions of yojanas.” Thus the Purāṇas narrate that in the course of Lord Kṛṣṇa’s eternal cycle of pastimes, when Kaṁsa orders the Lord to come to Mathurā, He sometimes goes there mounted upon Kāliya.
