In the previous episode, we had commenced to witness the series of events that led to Bhagawan Krishna departing back to His divine abode, Vaikunta. We had witnessed yesterday that Balarama, brother of Bhagawan Krishna took leave from Him and departed to Vaikunta. Simultaneously Bhagawan’s “Shanka” and “Chakra” too took permission from Bhagawan and left for Vaikunta. Finally it was only Bhagawan Krishna who was remaining. One fine day, Bhagawan was relaxing amidst a tall tree, in the reclining position, wherein His foot was up from the ground a little bit. Upon seeing Bhagawan’s foot, a hunter who passed by that way thought that this was a deer that had come there to drink some water. Thus, he quickly pulled out his arrow, locked it into his bow, let it go fiercely towards Bhagawan’s foot. Ultimately, as the arrow hits Bhagawan, blood oozes out from His divine feet! With this, Bhagawan Krishna takes the pain on to Himself, so as to allow Sage Vishwamitra’s curse to take its course. We should also remember the curse of Gaandhaari here, as she had also pledged that the entire Yaadava clan would be wiped out of this world, just like how her Kaurava clan was wiped out after the Kurukshetra war. Bhagawan Krishna was the only remaning person from the Yaadava clan at that point in time, and with Gaandhaari’s curse, He too had to bear the brunt of it. Thus, Bhagawan respected the sentiments and the prowess of people’s penance and “Prathignya” and thus decided to use these as the “ways and means” for Him to depart to Vaikunta.
Moving on thus, as the hunter sees the blood oozing out, he gets shell-shocked! He thus rushes forward to see what had happened. This hunter had hit his arrow, thinking that it was a deer, but to his dismay, he found Bhagawan Krishna there! Upon seeing this, the hunter realized the folly that he had committed and starts profusely crying! He was so helpless and was feeling gutted with his act! He thus falls on Bhagawan Krishna’s lotus feet and seeks unconditional refuge. Upon seeing the hunter’s unconditional surrender, Bhagwan replies thus, “Oh my dear son! Why are you feeling sad? You’re just an instrument in my divine hands! This was about to happen anyways, and this is not your fault. It was the curse of Sage Vishwamitra that has conspired through you! So please do not feel sad for what happened. I’m going to give you the highest “Moksha” for your unconditional surrender! In fact, you’ve done a great help to me – I was planning to ascend back to Vaikunta, and you were of a great service in making that happen! So, rather than feeling guilty, feel proud of yourself that you’ve helped Bhagawan in ascending back to Vaikunta! Thus, with my permission, you can now go to the “Swarga Lokha” for now, and from there, you can reach Vaikunta later!”
Saying thus, Bhagwan Krishna sends Him to “Swarga Lokha” and this is the time Bhagawan Krishna’s charioteer called “Daaruka” comes near Him. He was sad to see Bhagawan Krishna all alone with a hurt foot! In fact, when Bhagawan Krishna left for Vaikunta, He left all alone and all by Himself! Whereas, when Bhagawan Rama descended to Vaikunta, the entire Ayodhya city was with Him, and with Bhagawan’s compassion, He took all the Ayodhya people along with Him to Vaikunta. But here, Bhagawan Krishna is all alone by Himself. Unable to bear this, Dhaaruka asks Bhagawan Krishna whether he can be alongside Bhagawan. At this time, Bhagawan replies back thus, “Oh Dhaaruka! Don’t worry! You don’t need to be alongside me. I shall manage by myself! I’m going to give you the opportunity to go to the “Svarga Lokha”, but I want you to do one important duty before that!”
Upon hearing from Bhagawan Krishna, Dhaaruka asks Him what should he do. Bhagawan Krishna is now going to entrust an important responsibility to Dhaaruka. What is that? Let us wait till the next episode to find out! Stay tuned! 😊
The Indian Dharma 