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
54 / Pradyumna Born to Krsna and Rukmini
It is said that Cupid, who is directly part and parcel of Lord Vasudeva and
who was formerly burned to ashes by the anger of Lord Siva, took birth in
the womb of Rukmini begotten by Krsna.
This is Kamadeva, a demigod of the heavenly planets especially capable of inducing
lusty desires.
The Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krsna, has many grades
of parts and parcels, but the quadruple expansions of Krsna -- Vasudeva,
Sankarsana, Pradyumna and Aniruddha -- are directly in the Visnu category.
Kama, or the Cupid demig od, who later on took his birth in the womb
of Rukmini, was also named Pradyumna, but he cannot be the Pradyumna
of the Visnu category.
He belongs to the category of jiva-tattva, but
for special power in the category of demigods, he was a part and parcel
of the super prowess of Pradyumna.
That is the verdict of the Gosvamis.
Therefore, when Cupid was burned into ashes by the anger of Lord Siva,
he merged into the body of Vasudeva, and in order to get his body again,
he was begotten by Lord Krsna Himself; he was directly released from
his body in the womb of Rukmini and was born as the son of Krsna,
celebrated by the name Pradyumna.
Because he was begotten by Lord Krsna directly, his qualities
were most similar to those of Krsna.
There was a demon of the name Sambara who was destined to be killed by this
Pradyumna.
The Sambara demon knew of his destiny, and as soon as he
learned that Pradyumna was born, he took the shape of a woman and
kidnapped the baby from the maternity home less than ten days after his
birth.
The demon took him and threw him directly into the sea.
But, as it is said, "Whoever is protected by Krsna, no
one can kill; and whoever is destined to be killed by Krsna, no one can
protect."
When Pradyumna was thrown into the sea, a big fish immediately
swallowed him.
Later on this fish was caught by the net of a fisherman,
and the fish was later on sold to the Sambara demon.
In the kitchen of the demon there was a maidservant whose name was Mayavati.
This woman had formerly been the wife of Cupid, and had been called Rati.
When the fish was presented to the demon Sambara, it was taken charge of by his cook,
who was to make it into a palatable fish preparation.
Demons and the raksasas are accustomed to eat
meat, fish and similar non-vegetarian foods.
Similarly, other demons, like Ravana, Kamsa and Hiranyakasipu, although
born of brahmana and ksatriya fathers, used to take meat and flesh without
discrimination.
This practice is still prevalent in India, and those who
are meat and fish eaters are generally called demons and raksasas.
When the cook was cutting the fish, he found a nice baby within the belly
of the fish, and he immediately presented him to the charge of Mayavati,
who was an assistant in the kitchen affairs.
This woman was surprised to see how such a nice baby could remain within
the belly of a fish, and the situation perplexed her.
The great sage Narada then appeared and explained to her about the birth of Pradyumna, how the
baby had been taken away by Sambara and later on thrown into the sea,
and so on.
In this way the whole story was disclosed to Mayavati, who had formerly
been Rati, the wife of Cupid.
Mayavati knew that she had previously been the wife of Cupid; after
her husband was burnt into ashes by the wrath of Lord Siva, she was always
expecting him to come back again in the material form.
This woman was engaged for cooking rice and dahl in the kitchen,
but when she got this nice baby and understood that he was Cupid,
her own husband, she naturally took charge of him and with great affection
began to bathe him.
Mir aculously, the baby very swiftly grew up,
and within a very short period he became a very beautiful young man.
His eyes were just like the petals of lotus flowers, his arms were very long, down
to the knees, and any woman who happened to see him became captivated
by his bodily beauty.
Mayavati could understand that her former husband, Cupid, born as
Pradyumna, had grown into such a nice young man, and she also gradually
became captivated and lusty.
She was smiling before him with a feminine attractiveness, expressing her desire for
sexual unity.
He therefore inquired from her, "How is it possible that
first of all you were affectionate like a mother, and now you are
expressing the symptoms of a lusty woman?
What is the reason for such a change?"
On hearing this statement from Pradyumna, the woman, Rati,
replied, "My dear sir, you are the son of Lord Krsna.
Before you were ten days old, you were stolen by
the Sambara demon and later on thrown into the water and swallowed up by a
fish.
In this way you have come under my care, but actually, in your
former life as Cupid, I was your wife; therefore, my manifestation of
conjugal symptoms is not at all incompatible.
Sambara wanted to kill you, and he is endowed with various kinds of mystic
powers.
Therefore, before he again attempts to kill you, please kill
him as soon as possible with your divine power.
Since you were stolen by Sambara, your mother, Rukmini-devi, has been in a very grievous
condition, like a cuckoo bird who has lost her babies.
She is very affectionate toward you, and since you have been taken away from her, she has
been living like a cow aggrieved over the loss of its calf."
Mayavati had mystic knowledge of supernatural power.
Supernatural powers are generally known as maya, and to supersede
all such supernatural power there is another supernatural power which
is called mahamaya.
Mayavati had the knowledge of the mystic power of mahamaya,
and she delivered to Pradyumna this specific energetic power in
order to defeat the mystic powers of the Sambara demon.
Thus being empowered by his wife, Pradyumna immediately went before Sambara and challenged
him to fight.
Pradyumna began to address him in very strong language,
so that his temper might be agitated and he would be moved to fight.
At Pradyumna's words, the demon Sambara, being insulted, felt just like a
snake feels after being struck by one's leg.
A serpent cannot tolerate being kicked by another animal or
by a man, and he immediately bites the opponent.
Sambara felt the words of Pradyumna as if they were a kick.
He immediately took his club in his hand and appeared before
Pradyumna to fight.
In great anger, he began to beat Pradyumna with his
club, just as a thunderbolt beats a mountain.
The demon was also groaning and making a noise like a
thundering cloud.
Pradyumna protected himself with his own club, and
eventually he struck the demon very severely.
In this way, the fighting between Sambarasura and Pradyumna began very
seriously.
But Sambarasura knew the art of mystic powers and could raise himself in
the sky and fight from outer space.
There is another demon of the name Maya, and Sambarasura learned many mystic
powers from him.
He thus raised himself high in the sky and began to threw
various types of nuclear weapons at the body of Pradyumna.
In order to combat the mystic powers of Sambarasura, Pradyumna remembered another
mystic power, known as mahavidya, which was different from the black
mystic power.
The mahavidya mystic power is based on the quality of goodness.
Understanding that his enemy was formidable, Sambara took assistance
from various kinds of demonic mystic powers belonging to the Guhyakas,
the Gandharvas, the Pisacas, the snakes and the Raksasas.
But although the demon exhibited his mystic powers and took shelter of supernatural
strength, Pradyumna was able to counteract his strength and powers
by the superior power of mahavidya.
When Sambarasura was defeated in every respect, Pradyumna then
took his sharpened sword and immediately cut off the demon's head, which
was decorated with a helmet and with valuable jewels.
When Pradyumna thus killed the demon, all the demigods in the
higher planetary systems began to shower flowers on him.
Pradyumna's wife, Mayavati, could travel in outer space, and therefore they
directly reached his father's capital, Dvaraka, by the airways.
They passed above the palace of Lord Krsna and
began to come down as a cloud comes down with lightning.
The inner section of a palace is known as antahpura (private apartments).
Pradyumna and Mayavati could see that there were many women there, and they sat down among
them.
When the women saw Pradyumna, dressed in bluish garments, with
very long arms, curling hair, beautiful eyes, a smiling reddish face, jewelry
and ornaments, they first of all could not recognize him as Pradyumna,
a personality different from Krsna.
They all felt themselves to be very much blessed by the sudden
presence of Krsna, and they wanted to hide in a different corner of the
palace.
When the women saw, however, that all the characteristics of Krsna were not
present in the personality of Pradyumna, out of curiosity they came back
again to see him and his wife, Mayavati.
All of them were conjecturing as to who he was, for he was so beautiful.
Among the women was Rukminidevi, who was equally beautiful, with her lotus-like
eyes.
Seeing Pradyumna, she naturally remembered her own son, and milk
began to flow from her breast out of motherly affection.
She then began to wonder, "Who is this be autiful young boy?
He appears to be the most beautiful person.
Who is the fortunate young woman able to give birth to
this nice boy in her womb and become his mother?
And who is that young woman who has accompanied him?
How have they met?
Remembering my own son, who was stolen even from the
maternity home, I can only guess that if he is living somewhere, he might
have grown by this time to be like this boy."
Simply by intuition, Rukmini could understand that Pradyumna was her own
lost son.
She could also ob serve that Pradyumna resembled Lord Krsna
in every respect.
She was struck with wonder as to how he acquired all the
symptoms of Krsna.
She therefore began to think more confidently that the boy
must be her own grown-up son because she felt much affection for him, and,
as an auspicious sign, her left arm was trembling.
At that very moment, Lord Krsna, along with His father and mother, Devaki
and Vasudeva, appeared on the scene.
Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, could understand everything, yet
in that situation He remained silent.
However, by the desire of Lord Sri Krsna, the great sage Narada
also appeared on the scene, and he began to disclose all the incidents --
how Pradyumna had been stolen from the maternity home and how he had grown
up and had come there with his wife Mayavati, who formerly had been Rati,
the wife of Cupid.
When everyone was informed of the mysterious disappearance of Pradyumna and how he had
grown up, they all became struck with wonder because they had gotten back their
dead son after they were almost hopeless of his return.
When they understood that it was Pradyumna who was present, they began to receive him
with great delight.
One after another, all of the members of the family
-- Devaki, Vasudeva, Lord Sri Krsna, Lord Balarama, and Rukmini and all
the women of the family -- began to embrace both Pradyumna and his wife Mayavati.
When the news of Pradyumna's return was spread all over the
city of Dvaraka, all the astonished citizens began to come with great
anxiety to see the lost Pradyumna.
They began to say, "The dead son has come back.
What can be more pleasing than this?"
Srila Sukadeva Gosvami has explained that, in the beginning, all the
residents of the palace, who were all mothers and stepmothers of
Pradyumna, mistook him to be Krsna and were all bashful, infected by the
desire for conjugal love.
The explanation is that Pradyumna's personal appearance is exactly like Krsna's, and he
was factually Cupid himself.
There was no cause of astonishment, therefore, when the mothers of
Pradyumna and other women mistook him in that way.
It is clear from the statement that Pradyumna's bodily characteristics
were so similar to Krsna's that he was mistaken to be Krsna even
by his mother.
Thus ends the Bhaktivedanta purport of the Fifty-fourth Chapter of Krsna,
"Pradyumna Born to Krsna and Rukmini."
Thus ends Volume One of Krsna, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.