Not everyone is going to have a "hunky-dory" life. Peaceful, Happy-Thanksgiving-Merry-Christmas family life. For some of us it is going to be a bit of a rough ride. That's me. Fractured Flickers. Lots of reactions from past lives catching up with me obviously.
But that is alright. Happy family life is neither the goal nor the prerequisite for Krishna consciousness. Thank you, Lord. Like varnashrama dharma that can be very helpful for the peaceful and smooth running of society. That is a plus for cultivating Krishna consciousness. Happy family life can be a great help. Senses peaceful and gratified allowing for practical service to be offered to the Lord. Of course it is a double-edged sword and devotees can become too attached to the comforts and gratifications of family life. But in general it is the path most people will want to take. Can be very helpful. But it is not necessary.
It is not necessary to change anything. I can't change anything anyway. If we simply live our lives, wherever we find ourselves, living out the reactions of our past sinful activities and practicing Krishna consciousness we will be doing the very best we can do. The rest is up to Krishna.
For those of us riding the roller coaster...chant Hare Krishna and practice devotional life as best we can...especially "hearing" Krishna katha. That is where I find myself now. Thank you, Srila Prabhupada, for these wonderful books. Thank you very, very, very much. Thank you Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Saraswati. Thank you very, very, very much. The whole world thanks you.
So this morning it was the Killing of Bhaumasura. This pastime did not take place on this planet. Krishna was in Dvarka and King Indra and the demigods were have problems with Bhaumasura who happened to be the son of the earth planet personified. Seems like the appearance of a bad son is possible for almost anyone. Indra approached Krishna in Dvarka to please do something. Bhaumasura was occupying part of Mount Meru and had stolen the umbrella of Varuna and Aditi's, the mother of the demigods, earrings. He also had kidnapped 16,100 daughters of various kings and was holding them captive.
Wonder what his plan there was? Ransom from their fathers or "something" else. 16,100 ladies is a lot. Only Krishna can personally accommodate 16,100 young ladies. They were all expansions of the goddess Laksmi so it is possible Bhaumasura was thinking more in terms of ransom...rather than violation. He was a demon so there could have been a combination of both in his desires.
Why he was holding them isn't discussed here. But simply by being kidnapped like that the ladies were not acceptable back into the culture. Helpless unfortunate situation for them. They prayed to become wives of Krishna and He accepted them. He brought them back to Dvarka from Bhaumasura's palaces in Mount Meru.
"By expanding Himself in 16,100 forms, He simultaneously married them all in different palaces in one auspicious moment. He thus established the truth that Krishna and no one else is the Supreme Personality of Godhead. There is nothing impossible, for Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead; He is all-powerful, omnipresent and imperishable, and as such there is nothing wonderful in this pastime. All the palaces of the more than 16,000 queens of Krishna were full with suitable gardens, furniture and other paraphernalia, of which there is no parallel in this world. There is no exaggeration in this story from Srimad Bhagavatam. The queens of Krishna were all expansions of the goddess of fortune, Laksmiji. Krishna used to live with them in different palaces, and He treated them in exactly the same way as an ordinary man treats his wife." KB 2.4
Nothing at all unusual about this! It's not even wonderful! Srila Prabhupada comments like that. Krishna can do anything and does do everything. Remember who we are hearing about... The creator of everyone and everything. The Supreme Being.
We know when Krishna appears He pleases his devotees and kills the demons. In that order of priority. So we can understand that Krishna fighting with Bhaumasura was first of all to free the ladies who all took shelter of Krishna as Queens and then to kill the demons. He even took Satyabhama with him to Mount Meru for the fight and then later to Amaravati, Indra's capital city where he would return Aditi's stolen earrings, in order to please His Queen so that she would be able to bring a parijata plant back to Dvarka. His first business is always to please His devotee.
"When Krishna and Satyabhama were returning from the capital city of Indra, Satyabhama remembered Krishna's promise to give her the plant of the parijata flower. Taking the opportunity of having come to the heavenly kingdom, she plucked a parijata plant and kept it on the back of Garuda. Once Narada took a parijata flower and presented it to Krishna's senior Wife, Sri Rukminidevi. On account of this, Satyabhama developed an inferiority complex; she also wanted a flower from Krishna. Krishna could understand the competitive womanly nature of His co-wives, and He smiled. He immediately asked Satyabhama, "Why are you asking for only one flower? I would like to give you a whole tree of parijata flowers. Actually, Krishna had purposely taken His wife Satyabhama with Him so she could collect the parijata with her own hand." KB 2.4
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