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Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
Hare Rama, Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare,
Hare Krsna, Hare Krsna, Krsna Krsna, Hare Hare,
And now, Chapter
22 / The Deliverance of Salva
After talking with his charioteer, the son of Daruka, Pradyumna could
understand the real circumstances, and therefore he refreshed himself by
washing his mouth and hands. Arming himself properly with bows and arrows,
he asked his charioteer to take him near the place where Salva's
commander-in-chief was standing. During the short absence of Pradyumna
from the battlefield, Dyuman, Salva's commander-in-chief, had been taking
over the positions of the soldiers of the Yadu dynasty. By appearing in
the battlefield, Pradyumna immediately stopped him and struck him with
eight arrows. With four arrows he killed his four horses, with one arrow
his chariot driver and with another arrow he cut his bow in two; with
another arrow, he cut his flag into pieces, and with another he severed
his head from his body.
On the other fronts, heroes like Gada, Satyaki and Samba were engaged in
killing the soldiers of Salva. The soldiers who were staying with Salva in
the airplane were also killed in the fighting, and they fell into the
ocean. Each party began to strike the opposite party very severely. The
battle was fierce and dangerous and continued for twenty-seven days
without stop.
While the fight was going on in the city of Dvaraka, Krsna was staying at
Indraprastha along with the Pandavas and King Yudhisthira. This fighting
with Salva took place after the Rajasuya yajna had been performed by King
Yudhisthira and after the killing of Sisupala. When Lord Krsna understood
that there was great danger in the city of Dvaraka, He took permission
from the elderly members of the Pandava family, especially from His aunt
Kuntidevi, and started immediately for Dvaraka.
Lord Krsna began to think that while He was arriving in Hastinapura with
Balarama after the killing of Sisupala, Sisupala's men must have attacked
Dvaraka. On reaching Dvaraka, Lord Krsna saw that the whole city was
greatly endangered. He placed Balaramaji in a strategic position for the
protection of the city, and He Himself asked His charioteer Daruka to
prepare to start. He said, "Daruka, please immediately take Me to where
Salva is staying. You may know that this Salva is a very powerful,
mysterious man. Don't fear him in the least." As soon as he got his orders
from Lord Krsna, Daruka had Him seated on the chariot and drove very
quickly toward Salva.
The chariot of Lord Krsna was marked with the flag bearing the insignia of
Garuda, and as soon as the soldiers and warriors of the Yadu dynasty saw
the flag, they could understand that Lord Krsna was on the battlefield. By
this time, almost all the soldiers of Salva had been killed, but when
Salva saw that Krsna had come to the battlefield, he released a great,
powerful weapon which flew through the sky with a roaring sound like a
great meteor. It was so bright that the whole sky lit up by its presence.
But as soon as Lord Krsna appeared, He tore the great weapon into hundreds
and thousands of pieces by releasing His own arrow.
Lord Krsna struck Salva with sixteen arrows, and with showers of arrows He
overpowered the airplane, just as the sun in a clear sky overpowers the
whole sky by an unlimited number of molecules of sunshine. Salva struck a
severe blow to Krsna's left side, where the Lord was carring His bow,
Sarnga, and as a result the Sarnga bow fell from Lord Krsna's hand. This
dropping of the bow was indeed wonderful. Great personalities and demigods
who were observing the fighting between Salva and Krsna became most pertu
rbed by this, and they began to exclaim, "Alas! Alas!"
Salva thought that he had become victorious, and with a roaring sound began
to address Lord Krsna as follows: "You rascal, Krsna! You kidnapped
Rukmini forcibly, even in our presence. You baffled my friend Sisupala and
married Rukmini Yourself. And in the great assembly at King Yudhisthira's
Rajasuya yajna, while my friend Sisupala was a little absent-minded, You
took an opportunity to kill him. Everyone thinks that You are a great
fighter and that no one can conquer You. So now You'll have to prove Your
strength. I think that if You stand before me any longer, with my
sharpened arrows I shall send You to a place wherefrom You will never
return."
To this Lord Krsna replied, "Foolish Salva, you are talking nonsensically.
You do not know that the moment of death is already upon your head. Those
who are actually heroes do not talk much. They prove their prowess by
practical exhibition of chivalrous activities." After saying this, Lord
Krsna, in great anger, struck Salva on the collarbone with His club so
severely that he began to bleed internally and tremble as if he were going
to collapse from severe cold. Before Krsna was able to strike him again,
however, Salva became invisible by his mystic power.
Within a few moments, a mysterious unknown man came before Lord Krsna.
Crying loudly, he bowed down at the Lord's lotus feet and said to Him,
"Since You are the most beloved son of Your father Vasudeva, Your mother
Devaki has sent me to inform You of the unfortunate news that Your father
has been arrested by Salva and taken him away by force. He took him just
as a butcher mercilessly takes away an animal." When Lord Krsna heard this
unfortunate news from the unknown man, He at first became most perturbed,
just like an ordinary human being. His face showed signs of grief, and He
began to cry in a pitious tone, "How could that happen? My brother Lord
Balarama is there, and it is impossible for anyone to conquer Balaramaji.
He is in charge of Dvaraka City, and I know He is always alert. How could
Salva possibly enter the city and arrest My father in that way? Whatever
he may be, Salva's power is limited, so how could it be possible that he
has conquered the strength of Balaramaji and taken away My father, arrest
ing him as described by this man? Alas! Destiny is, after all, very
powerful."
While Sri Krsna was thinking like this, Salva brought before Him in custody
a man exactly resembling Vasudeva, His father. These were all creations of
the mystic power of Salva.
Salva began to address Krsna, "You rascal, Krsna! Look. This is Your father
who has begotten You and by whose mercy You are still living. Now just see
how I kill Your father. If You have any strength, try to save him." The
mystic juggler, Salva, speaking in this way before Lord Krsna, immediately
cut off the head of the false Vasudeva. Without hesitation he took away
the dead body and got into his airplane. Lord Krsna is the self-sufficient
Supreme Personality of Godhead, yet because He was playing the role of a
human being, He became very depressed for a moment, as if He had actually
lost His father. But at the next moment He could understand that the
arrest and killing of His father were demonstrations of the mystic powers
which Salva had learned from the demon Maya. Coming to His right
consciousness, He could see that there was no messenger and no head of His
father, but that only Salva had left in his airplane, which was flying in
the sky. He then began to think of slaying Salva.
Krsna's reaction is a controversial point among great authorities and
saintly persons. How could Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, the
reservoir of all power and knowledge, be bewildered in such a way?
Lamentation, aggrievement and bewilderment are characteristics of persons
who are conditioned souls, but how can such things affect the person of
the Supreme, who is full of knowledge, power and all opulence? Actually,
it is not at all possible that Lord Krsna was misled by the mystic
jugglery of Salva. He was displaying His pastime in playing the role of a
human being. Great saintly persons and sages who are engaged in the
devotional service of the lotus feet of Lord Krsna and who have thus
achieved the greatest perfection of self-realization have transcended the
bewilderments of the bodily concept of life. Lord Krsna is the ultimate
goal of life for such saintly persons. How then could Krsna have been
bewildered by the mystic jugglery of Salva? The conclusion is that Lord
Krsna's bewilderment was another opulence of His supreme personality.
When Salva thought that Krsna had been bewildered by his mystic
representations, he became encouraged and began to attack the Lord with
greater strength and energy by showering volumes of arrows upon Him. But
the enthusiasm of Salva can be compared to the speedy march of flies into
a fire. Lord Krsna, by hurling His arrows with unfathomable strength,
injured Salva, whose armor, bow and jeweled helmet all scattered into
pieces. With a crashing blow from Krsna's club, Salva's wonderful airplane
burst into pieces and fell into the sea. Salva was very careful, and
instead of crashing with the airplane, he managed to jump onto the land.
He again rushed towards Lord Krsna. When Salva ran swiftly to attack Krsna
with his club, Lord Krsna cut off his hand, which fell to the ground with
the club. Finally deciding to kill him, the Lord took up His wonderful
disc, which was shining like the brilliant sun at the time of the
dissolution of the material creation. When Lord Sri Krsna stood up with
His disc to kill Salva, He appeared just like the red sun rising over a
mountain. Lord Krsna then cut off his head, and the head, with its
earrings and helmet, fell on the ground. Salva was thus killed in the same
way as Vrtrasura was killed by Indra, the King of heaven.
When Salva was killed, all his soldiers and followers began to cry, "Alas!
Alas!" While Salva's men were thus crying, the demigods from the heavenly
planets showered flowers on Krsna and announced the victory by beating on
drums and blowing bugles. At this very moment, other friends of Sisupala,
such as Dantavakra, appeared on the scene to fight with Krsna in order to
avenge the death of Sisupala. When Dantavakra appeared before Lord Krsna,
he was extremely angry.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Second Volume, Twenty-second
Chapter, of Krsna, "The Deliverance of Salva."