Text 22

It is stated in Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam (10.16.36) that Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s mercy is inconceivable (acintya) and causeless (ahaitukī):

कस्यानुभावो’स्य न देव विद्महे तवाङ्घ्रि-रेणु-स्पर्शाधिकारः
यद्-वाञ्छया श्रीर् ललनाचरत् तपो विहाय कामान् सु-चिरं धृत-व्रता

kasyānubhāvo’sya na deva vidmahe tavāṅghri-reṇu-sparśādhikāraḥ
yad-vāñchayā śrīr lalanācarat tapo vihāya kāmān su-ciraṃ dhṛta-vratā

[The Nāgapatnīs prayed to Śrī Kṛṣṇa:] O Lord, we cannot understand what sādhana our husband has performed to become qualified to receive the touch of the dust of Your lotus feet. This dust is so rare that to attain it, even Your wife Lakṣmī gave up all forms of enjoyment for many, many days and performed austerities according to rules and regulations.

कि पुण्ये कालिय पाय पद-रेणु तव
बुझिते ना पारि कृष्ण कृपार सम्भव

ki puṇye kāliya pāya pada-reṇu tava
bujhite nā pāri kṛṣṇa kṛpāra sambhava

याहा लागि’ लक्ष्मी-देवी तप आचरिल
बहु-काल धृत-व्रता कामादि छाडिल

yāhā lāgi’ lakṣmī-devī tapa ācarila
bahu-kāla dhṛta-vratā kāmādi chāḍila

Commentary: Bhajana-rahasya-vṛtti:

The astonished wives of Kāliya-nāga are saying, “O Gokuleśvara, we cannot understand what kind of sukṛti resulted in this lowly Kāliya attaining Your rare foot-dust. The supremely gentle and very beautiful Lakṣmī, who plays on the chest of Śrī Nārāyaṇa, gave up the asso ciation of her husband and observed a vrata in which she performed severe austerities to attain this dust, but she was unsuccessful. Prabhu, it is not possible even for Lakṣmī to have the same fortune as Kāliya and receive the direct touch of Your lotus feet.”

This Text describes Kāliya’s great fortune. Lakṣmī desired the association of Nanda-nandana Śrī Kṛṣṇa in her body as Lakṣmī. However, Nanda-nandana does not accept any demigoddess or beautiful lady; the only way to attain Him is to follow the vraja-devīs and accept the body and mood of a gopī. Since this was impossible for Lakṣmī, she could not attain Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s association. Śrīla Jīva Gosvāmī says that the one-pointedness of the gopīs was absent in Lakṣmī: aprāptikāraṇaṃ ca gopīvat tad-ananyatābhāva aivati ca.

There can be two reasons why Kāliya attained Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet. The first reason is that he had the association of his wives, who were very good devotees. The second reason is his residence in the Yamunā, which is within Vṛndāvana. Due to saṃskāras, impressions, from his previous lives, he attained both of these, but due to his offensive inclination, he was indifferent to them. The dhāma and other transcendental objects do not manifest immediately before offensive persons. When Śrī Kṛṣṇa split Kāliya’s hoods with a blow from His dancing feet, Kāliya began to vomit blood. He then believed the words of his wives, that Śrī Kṛṣṇa is the Supreme Lord, and surrendered to Him. Kṛṣṇa had merely been waiting to bestow His mercy upon him.

Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī explains in his commentary to this verse that Kāliya had the seed of bhakti in his heart due to the association of his devotee wives, but this seed could not sprout in his hard heart, which was like barren land due to his offences and cruelty. By the touch of Śrī Kṛṣṇa’s feet, that barren land became fertile enough for the seed of bhakti to germinate.