Srimad Bhagavatam – day 641
The Lord’s touch graced the demons with liberation
Krishna Narayana
“The Supreme Lord himself has created this entire universe beginning from Brahma and extending right up to the trees, insects, worms and every other entity down to an atom”.
He is the one who has created every planetary system. He is the one who created this universal egg and who remains within it.
“Inherently non-dual, He appears to be dual in existence. He appears to be existing separately from the bonded souls in this universe. Using His illusionary energy, He manifested as a small infant in Gokula. His incarnation as Krishna is His illusionary energy which took on a human form. Having developed a desire to sport within this creation of His, He took on a human form. Through this human incarnation, He desired to grant salvation to a few devotees. Nothing can be extra-ordinary for Him, who is the creator of this entire cosmos. He is aware of every happening in this creation. As such, He did not find anything novel in His actions. It is true that the wicked can never obtain salvation. Nevertheless, merely by the touch of the Supreme Lord, even a vile demon like Aghasura was rendered free from all his sins”.
When it is said that in the form of illumination, the demon merged into the Lord, we are aghast. To understand the theory behind this, we should grasp the truth being explained now. Demons can never obtain liberation. However, demon Aghasura was fortunate to touch the Supreme Lord who had incarnated in a human form. With this touch, all his sins were completely destroyed. More importantly, the Lord took on a gigantic form and touched him at that spot where the life-force (prana vayu) enters into the body. What could be luckier than that? With this, the limitless sins of the dreaded demon, who had tortured innumerable living entities in the past, were totally burnt out. He was that deplorable sinner who had swallowed uncountable saints and other saintly creatures. For years, he had inflicted injuries and pathetically tortured many saintly persons who were filled with divine qualities. Even such a deplorable sinner could obtain liberation merely due to the touch of the Supreme Lord. He could obtain liberation without undertaking any penance.
Haven’t they explained previously in Bhagavatam the degree of penance required to obtain liberation? Now in Bhagavatam it is said that he obtained liberation merely with the Lord’s touch. For this reason, the cowherd boys and their calves would frequently touch Krishna. All the men and women would love to touch Him. The Lord had declared that those who touch Him will be liberated. Haven’t we discussed that in order to fulfill His promise given to all the ascetics during His incarnation as Rama, the Lord allowed them all to be born in the cowherd clan during His incarnation as Krishna? These ascetics had desired to embrace Him, to touch Him. As Rama He had promised, “In this incarnation I cannot fulfill these desires. However when I incarnate as Krishna it shall be fulfilled. In that incarnation you can touch me to your heart’s content. I will shower you with liberation”. For this reason, all the living entities irrespective of whether they were calves, animals or birds, obtained liberation merely by circumambulating the Lord, touching Him or when His gaze fell upon them.
What to say of demon Aghasura’s fortune! The Lord, who was merely five-years-old, had walked on his tongue with His tender feet. After going within, the Lord took on a vast form. Aghasura saw the Lord both in His small as well as his infinitely huge form. Using His hand, the Lord stopped the flow of breath in the demon. Thus, the demon was blessed by hasta-sparsha (hand-touch) of the Lord.
Previously we condemned the evil deeds of the demon. Now we extoll him for having obtained liberation. Likewise, demoness Putana was also fortunate. She could feed the Lord with her breast-milk. In a previous birth she had sought that boon. A small anecdote is narrated in this context of Putana’s death. It pertains to the period when the Lord incarnated as Vamana and, in the pretext of asking for three feet of land, took away the entire cosmos from Emperor Bali’s custody.
At the time when Vamana arrived seeking three feet of land, Bali had a very young daughter. She was fascinated with the small dwarf Vamana who had arrived there and desired to cajole him lovingly. Even as she was thinking thus, milk flowed from her breast. She felt as if she was breast-feeding him.
A few minutes later she witnessed Vamana take away all the worlds from Bali’s custody and pushing him to the lower planetary system called Patala. She was enraged. In that fury she wished to kill that little Vamana who had deceived her father. The Lord said ‘so be it’ (tathastu) to both her wishes.
At first, she had sought to breast-feed and lovingly cajole the boy. Later she wished to kill him. It is said that this girl was reborn as demoness Putana. She carried the infant, lovingly breast-fed him but then nourished a desire to kill Him.
In reality, Putana was supremely fortunate. She had the rare chance to carry Him when he was only a few days old. She had the rare chance to breast-feed him. Then with the intent of killing him, she fed him poison.
Similarly, the Lord touched Baka when killing him. He touched these demons and liberated them all! It was the speciality of Krishna’s incarnation. Even among the Kauravas, some were blessed with this opportunity. During His incarnation as Krishna, He bestowed liberation upon every living entity that touched Him!
The Lord touched Aghasura at his throat. By then the tiny boy had manifested in his universal form and with his gigantic hand he firmly held the throat of the demon. He touched Aghasura with that hand which holds the discus, the hand with holds the mace, that hand with holds the conch and that hand which blesses living entities with fearlessness! With that hand which showers nectar, with that hand which showers liberation, he touched the demon!
There is a bhajan composed by Swamiji which glorifies Lord Krishna’s feet. Likewise even His hand has its own glory. My body horripilates as I speak this. With such a divine hand, the Lord touched the demon’s throat. Could there be any fortune greater than this? With this, all the sins of the demon were burnt completely.
Krishna Krishna