Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Akrūra went to Hastināpura, the city distinguished by the glory of the Paurava rulers. There he saw Dhṛtarāṣṭra, Bhīṣma, Vidura and Kuntī, along with Bāhlika and his son Somadatta. He also saw Droṇācārya, Kṛpācārya, Karṇa, Duryodhana, Aśvatthāmā, the Pāṇḍavas and other close friends.
After Akrūra, the son of Gāndinī, had appropriately greeted all his relatives and friends, they asked him for news of their family members, and he in turn asked about their welfare.
He remained in Hastināpura for several months to scrutinize the conduct of the weak-willed King, who had bad sons and who was inclined to give in to the whims of mischievous advisers.
Kuntī and Vidura described to Akrūra in detail the evil intentions of Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s sons, who could not tolerate the great qualities of Kuntī’s sons — such as their powerful influence, military skill, physical strength, bravery and humility — or the intense affection the citizens had for them. Kuntī and Vidura also told Akrūra about how the sons of Dhṛtarāṣṭra had tried to poison the Pāṇḍavas and carry out other such plots.
Kuntīdevī, taking advantage of her brother Akrūra’s visit, approached him confidentially. While remembering her birthplace, she spoke with tears in her eyes.
[Queen Kuntī said:] O gentle one, do my parents, brothers, sisters, nephews, family women and girlhood friends still remember us?
Does my nephew Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality and the compassionate shelter of His devotees, still remember His aunt’s sons? And does lotus-eyed Rāma remember them also?
Now that I am suffering in the midst of my enemies like a doe in the midst of wolves, will Kṛṣṇa come to console me and my fatherless sons with His words?
Kṛṣṇa, Kṛṣṇa! O great yogi! O Supreme Soul and protector of the universe! O Govinda! Please protect me, who have surrendered to You. I and my sons are being overwhelmed by trouble.
“Since Lord Kṛṣṇa maintains the entire universe,” thought Kuntīdevī, “surely He can protect our family.” The word avasīdatīm indicates that Kuntīdevī was overwhelmed by troubles; thus exhausted, she was helplessly taking shelter of Śrī Kṛṣṇa. In her prayers in the First Canto of the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Kuntī admits that all these troubles were actually a blessing, for they forced her to always be intensely Kṛṣṇa conscious.
For persons fearful of death and rebirth, I see no shelter other than Your liberating lotus feet, for You are the Supreme Lord.
I offer my obeisances unto You, Kṛṣṇa, the supreme pure, the Absolute Truth and the Supersoul, the Lord of pure devotional service and the source of all knowledge. I have come to You for shelter.
Śrīla Śrīdhara Svāmī has translated the word yogāya as “unto Kṛṣṇa, the source of knowledge.” The word yoga indicates connection and also the means to achieve something. As conscious souls, we have a connection with the Supreme Soul through bhakti, or devotion. Through that relationship we experience perfect knowledge of the Supreme Soul. Since the Supreme Soul is the Absolute Truth, perfect knowledge of Him means perfect knowledge of everything. As stated in the Muṇḍaka Upaniṣad (1.3), yasmin vijñāte sarvam evam vijñātaṁ bhavati: When the Absolute is understood, everything is understood. Thus Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself, by His spiritual potency, establishes our connection with Him, and that connection is the source of all spiritual knowledge. Thus Ācārya Śrīdhara, by his thoughtful translation, stimulates us to deeper understanding of Kṛṣṇa conscious philosophy.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Thus meditating on her family members and also on Kṛṣṇa, the Lord of the universe, your great-grandmother Kuntīdevī began to cry out in grief, O King.
Both Akrūra, who shared Queen Kuntī’s distress and happiness, and the illustrious Vidura consoled the Queen by reminding her of the extraordinary way her sons had taken birth.
Akrūra and Vidura reminded Queen Kuntī that her sons were born of heavenly gods and thus could not be vanquished like ordinary mortals. In fact, an extraordinary victory awaited this most pious family.
The ardent affection King Dhṛtarāṣṭra felt for his sons had made him act unjustly toward the Pāṇḍavas. Just before leaving, Akrūra approached the King, who was seated among his friends and supporters, and related to him the message that his relatives — Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Balarāma — had sent out of friendship.
Akrūra said: O my dear son of Vicitravīrya, O enhancer of the Kurus’ glory, your brother Pāṇḍu having passed away, you have now assumed the royal throne.
Akrūra was speaking ironically, since the young sons of Pāṇḍu should actually have been occupying the throne. Upon the death of Pāṇḍu, they were too young to immediately govern and so were put in Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s care, but now sufficient time had passed, and their legitimate rights should have been recognized.
By religiously protecting the earth, delighting your subjects with your noble character, and treating all your relatives equally, you will surely achieve success and glory.
Akrūra told Dhṛtarāṣṭra that even though he had usurped the throne, if he now ruled according to the principles of dharma and behaved properly, he could be successful.
If you act otherwise, however, people will condemn you in this world, and in the next life you will enter the darkness of hell. Remain equally disposed, therefore, toward Pāṇḍu’s sons and your own.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s whole problem was his excessive attachment to his nasty sons. That was the fatal flaw that caused his downfall. There was no lack of good advice from all sides, and Dhṛtarāṣṭra even admitted that the advice was sound, but he could not follow it. One can have clear, practical intelligence when the mind and heart are pure.
In this world no one has any permanent relationship with anyone else, O King. We cannot stay forever even with our own body, what to speak of our wife, children and the rest.
Every creature is born alone and dies alone, and alone one experiences the just rewards of his good and evil deeds.
The term anubhuṅkte is significant here. Bhuṅkte means “(the living being) experiences,” and anu means “following,” or “in sequence.” In other words, we experience happiness and distress according to the moral and spiritual quality of our activities. We are responsible for what we do. Dhṛtarāṣṭra was falsely and obsessively attached to his evil-minded sons, forgetting that he alone would have to suffer for his imprudent behavior.
In the guise of dear dependents, strangers steal the sinfully acquired wealth of a foolish man, just as the offspring of a fish drink up the water that sustains the fish.
Ordinary people feel they cannot live without their wealth, although their possession of it is circumstantial and temporary. Just as wealth gives life to an ordinary man, water gives life to a fish. One’s dear dependents, however, steal one’s wealth, just as a fish’s offspring drink up the water sustaining the fish. In the words of Śrīla Bhaktivinoda Ṭhākura, this world is “a weird abode.”
A fool indulges in sin to maintain his life, wealth and children and other relatives, for he thinks, “These things are mine.” In the end, however, these very things all abandon him, leaving him frustrated.
In these verses, Akrūra is giving rather frank advice to Dhṛtarāṣṭra. Those who know the story of the Mahābhārata will realize how relevant and prophetic these instructions are, and how much Dhṛtarāṣṭra suffered for not accepting them. Although one tenaciously clings to his property, in the end all is lost, and the blundering soul is swept away by the wheel of birth and death.
Abandoned by his so-called dependents, ignorant of the actual goal of life, indifferent to his real duty, and having failed to fulfill his purposes, the foolish soul enters the blindness of hell, taking his sinful reactions with him.
It is sadly ironic that materialistic persons, who labor so assiduously to accumulate insurance, security, property and family, enter the darkness of hell equipped with nothing but the painful reactions of their sins. On the other hand, those who cultivate Kṛṣṇa consciousness, spiritual life, while apparently neglecting to accumulate property, a large family and so on, enter the next life enriched with many spiritual assets and thus enjoy the deep pleasures of the soul.
Therefore, O King, looking upon this world as a dream, a magician’s illusion or a flight of fancy, please control your mind with intelligence and become equipoised and peaceful, my lord.
Dhṛtarāṣṭra said: O master of charity, I can never be satiated while hearing your auspicious words. Indeed, I am like a mortal who has obtained the nectar of the gods.
In the opinion of Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī, Dhṛtarāṣṭra was in fact proud and felt he already knew everything Akrūra was speaking, but to maintain diplomatic gravity he spoke as a saintly gentleman.
Even so, gentle Akrūra, because my unsteady heart is prejudiced by affection for my sons, these pleasing words of yours cannot remain fixed there, just as lightning cannot remain fixed in a cloud.
Who can defy the injunctions of the Supreme Lord, who has now descended in the Yadu dynasty to diminish the earth’s burden?
Naturally, we would like to ask Dhṛtarāṣṭra, “If you know all this, why don’t you behave properly?” Of course, this is exactly Dhṛtarāṣṭra’s point: he feels that since events have already been set in motion, he is helpless to change them. In fact, events have been set in motion by his attachment and sinful propensities, and therefore he should have taken responsibility for his own acts. Lord Kṛṣṇa clearly states in the Bhagavad-gītā (5.15), nādatte kasyacit pāpam: “The Supreme Lord does not accept responsibility for anyone’s sinful activities.” It is a dangerous policy to claim that we are acting improperly because of “destiny” or “fate.” We should take up Kṛṣṇa consciousness seriously and create an auspicious future for ourselves and our associates.
Finally, one may argue that, after all, Dhṛtarāṣṭra is involved in the Lord’s pastimes and is actually His eternal associate. In answer to this we may say that the Lord’s pastimes are not only entertaining but also didactic, and the lesson here is that Dhṛtarāṣṭra should have acted properly. This is what the Lord wanted to teach. Dhṛtarāṣṭra claims that Kṛṣṇa came to relieve the burden of the earth, but the earth’s burden is precisely the improper behavior of its inhabitants. So, let us take the lesson the Lord wants to teach here and be instructed for our benefit.
I offer my obeisances to Him, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, who creates this universe by the inconceivable activity of His material energy and then distributes the various modes of nature by entering within the creation. From Him, the meaning of whose pastimes is unfathomable, come both the entangling cycle of birth and death and the process of deliverance from it.
When all is said and done, Dhṛtarāṣṭra was not an ordinary person but an associate of the Supreme Lord, Kṛṣṇa. Certainly an ordinary person could not offer such a learned hymn to the Lord.
Śukadeva Gosvāmī said: Having thus apprised himself of the King’s attitude, Akrūra, the descendant of Yadu, took permission from his well-wishing relatives and friends and returned to the capital of the Yādavas.
Akrūra reported to Lord Balarāma and Lord Kṛṣṇa how Dhṛtarāṣṭra was behaving toward the Pāṇḍavas. Thus, O descendant of the Kurus, he fulfilled the purpose for which he had been sent.
