Srimad Bhagavatam – day 720
Indra begs forgiveness from Lord Śrikrishna
Harekrishna Narayana
Tenth Canto Chapter Twenty-seven
In this chapter, Kamadhenu worships Srikrishna as Govinda.
After the previous incident, there was a change in the way people perceived Krishna.
Maharishi Śuka continued, “Krishna held up the Govardhana Mountain and protected the residents of Brindavan from the torrential rains and tempestuous winds that battered the hamlet. Thereafter along with Indra, the Lord of heaven, Kamadhenu, the celestial cow, approached Krishna. Indra was deeply ashamed of his behaviour’.”
When those who commit mistakes wish to seek pardon for it from any saint or revered person, they take along with them a renowned personality, a great person, a person loved by the saint or any other person whom they consider helpful. They hope that the presence of these mediators will cause the saint to forgive them easily. Here, likewise Indra came along with Kamadhenu, the celestial cow.
“Indra was truly repentant for his misdeeds. He was sinking in shame. Finding a suitable time when Krishna was all by himself, Indra approached him and, with his crown that glowed as radiantly as the Sun, and prostrated at Krishna’s feet.”
Indra prostrated before Krishna with his crown touching Krishna’s feet.
“Srikrishna is the Lord of infinite energies. After having heard and, after having personally witnessed the glory of Krishna, Indra’s pride at being the ruler of all the three worlds was totally shattered. He folded his palms in reverence and humbly prayed,
‘O Supreme Lord, Your body is predominantly composed of the traits of goodness (shuddha sattva). It is an embodiment of complete knowledge and is devoid of any transformation. In You, the traits of passion (rajas) and ignorance (tamas) do not exist. This creation, which is composed of the traits of goodness, passion and ignorance, is illusionary. It comes into existence purely due to ignorance of the Self. Such illusionary creation cannot bind You.
O Supreme Lord, greed, anger and other emotions are the characteristics of the ignorant. Having emerged due to ignorance, these traits become the cause for all the worldly bondages. Such characteristics cannot exist in You. Nevertheless, for the purposes of punishing the wicked and protecting the righteous duties (dharmas) You are issuing punishments.
Pitā gurus tvaḿ jagatām adhīśo duratyayaḥ kāla upātta-daṇḍaḥ
hitāya cecchā-tanubhiḥ samīhase mānaḿ vidhunvan jagad-īśa-māninām
You are the Lord for the life-force. You are the Guru for all the Gurus. You are the Supreme Entity. You are the ruler of the eternal time which cannot be crossed over. Playfully You have assumed a form to exhibit Your transcendental sports and to crush the pride of those who turn arrogant at being the rulers of the world, thereby causing the well-being of the universe.
Although we are predominantly filled with traits of goodness (sattva), due to the influence of the traits of passion (rajas) which is needed for the proper execution of our tasks, we at times slip into ignorance. Every time when we are enveloped by ignorance You step in and through Your transcendental sports destroy our impurities and through Your punishments, render us pure. You purify us as playfully as one would filter away the insect that has fallen into the vessel containing milk”.
The mind is the milk, the truth is the milk; the traits of purity are like milk.
“When we, who are on the path of purity (sattva) turn arrogant due to ignorance, You exhibit Your transcendental sports in order to uplift us and to destroy the traits of ignorance (tamas) that have enveloped us”.
When we slip from sattva and accept traits of passion (rajas), ignorance automatically seeps in. this is because ignorance is mixed with passion. It co-exists. Ignorance causes us to turn conceited. At such times, You incarnate in order to set us right.
This incarnation of Yours is for the protection of the virtuous and the destruction of the evil-minded demons. In order to purify us, who although being filled with traits of purity, were contaminated due to the touch of passion and ignorance, You have incarnated. You have ensured that we return to the levels of purity that existed earlier in us. Worried that we could slip to the lowest levels, You stepped in and curbed our arrogance.
“O Lord, considering themselves to be the sole monarchs of the world, rulers like me are self-conceited. Even such rulers fear time, while You the Lord of the universe are devoid of such fear. This is because You are beyond eternal time. You, the supreme conjurer, throw the illusionary energy into illusion. You are the supreme time who rules eternal time. Merely by seeing You, such egoistic rulers discard their pride and walk on the path treaded by noble saints. Your transcendental sports reform the wicked and bring them on to the path of goodness.
O Lord, I, whose entire body is soaking in the pride of power, have greatly sinned. Please forgive me. My dim-witted intellect, which could not fathom Your glory, was deluded. Considering You to be a mere mortal who is subject to death, I mistreated You. I failed to recognize that You are the Supreme Entity”.
Nanda also revealed to the inhabitants of Brindavan the glory of Krishna only after the incident of lifting up the mountain. Whether he feared Kamsa or whether he waited for the opportune moment, remains unknown. However, in order to dispel their suspicions and in order to prevent them from labelling Krishna as a magician, he had to reveal the truth.
“Now I understand Your supremacy. O Lord of everyone, kindly forgive me. Please bless that my intellect should never ever fall to such despicable levels. I should never fall to those levels when my mind seeks to ridicule You due to feelings of arrogance and egoism (I-ness) in me.
O Lord who is beyond the perception of the senses! I now understand that You have incarnated to punish the conceited powerful rulers, who with their mammoth armies, have become a burden to Earth. To destroy their arrogance is the purpose of this incarnation of Yours in which You are known as Krishna. Your incarnation causes the well-being of those who seek shelter under Your lotus feet’.
Narayana Krishna