Chapter 27 - Indra coronates Kṛṣṇa

[Sanskrit text for this chapter is available]

Śrī Śuka continued:

1. When Kṛṣṇa held up the mount Govardhana and protected Vraja (Gokula) from heavy showers, Surabhi, the wish-yielding heavenly cow. came down from Goloka^[1] to Kṛṣṇa, and Indra too approached him.

2. Indra who felt abashed at his humiliation (by Kṛṣṇa) met him in privacy (in a solitary place) and touched his feet by his crown brilliant like the sun.

3. Having witnessed and heard the prowess of Kṛṣṇa of immeasurable lustre, energy and power, Indra with his pride of being the ruler of three worlds, subdued, spoke to him with folded palms.

Indra said:

4.^[2] Your essential nature consists of absolutely pure sattva and as such it is one uniform quiescent existence full of (spiritual) knowledge untainted by rajas and tamas. This sarhsāra consisting of the stream of guṇas which is the product of Māyā has no place in you.

5. Oh Controller of the Māyā! How could greed and other passions which characterise the ignorant and which are both the product as well as the cause of Māyā^[3] possibly affect you (lit. have a place in you)? It is, however, for the protection of righteousness and the control of the wicked (in their interest and out of grace unto them) that you exercise authority (lit. bear the sceptre for punishing the wicked).

6. You are the progenitor, preceptor and Supreme controller of the worlds. You are the undefiable Time-spirit who hold the rod of punishment.^[4] It is for the welfare of the world that you act, manifesting yourself at will, your (sportive) forms and crushing down the pride of those who fancy themselves to be the masters of the world.

7.^[5] Noticing your fearlessness and formidability in times of stress and peril, ignorant fools like me who prided themselves to be the rulers of the world, immediately shed off their arrogance, and getting rid of their egotism, betake themselves to the path of righteousness. In this way your sportive acts are meant for the punishment and discipline of the wicked as well.

8. Oh Ruler of the world! It behoves you to pardon me—your offender, who was puffed up with the pride of my affluence and was totally ignorant of your prowess. Oh Lord! May not the intellect (and mind) of a stupid fellow like me become so wicked (and perverse) again.^[6]

9. This incarnation of yours in this world is for the destruction of those powerful army-leaders who are themselves a burden to the earth and whose birth has become a source of troubles to others, and for the prosperity of the followers of the feet of your Lordship. (As such, I, being your servant, deserve pardon and mercy even though I have committed a grave offence against you, Oh Adhokṣaja—Lord beyond the ken of sense-perception).

10. Obeisance to you, a glorious God, who reside in the hearts of all and who are still too great-souled to be discerned;^[7] you Kṛṣṇa, the son of Vasudeva and the Lord of Sātvatas.

11. Salutations to you who assume a form to comply with the wishes of your devotees; who are the embodiment of absolutely pure knowledge; who are all-pervading, the seed (the primary cause) of everything and the indwelling^[8] soul of all beings.^[9]

12. Oh Lord! Flying in blind rage at the interruption of the sacrifice offered to me, I did this for destroying the Gokula, with heavy showers and stormy winds.

13. With my pride crushed and efforts to destroy Gokula frustrated, I have been favoured by you, Oh Lord. I have sought shelter in you, Oh Supreme Ruler, Preceptor, nay, my own soul itself.

Śrī Śuka said:

14. Thus extolled highly by Indra, the glorious Lord Kṛṣṇa, replied to him laughingly, in a voice deep like the rumbling of clouds, as follows:

The Lord said:

15. Oh Indra! Highly intoxicated as you were with the pride of the majesty of Indra-hood (kingship of the celestials), it was out of grace unto you that I interrupted the sacrificial worship to be offered to you, so that you should ever remember me.

16. Out of those who have grown blind with the arrogance of supreme power and affluence and do not recognise me as the wielder of the rod of punishment, I deprive that person of his position and wealth unto whom I condescend to show grace.

17. You may now return, Oh Indra! May all be well with you. Garry out my commandments. All of you should continue in your respective offices (and execute your duties) diligently without being puffed up with pride or haughtiness.

18. Paying respects, along with her progeny (cows), to Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Lord in the guise of a cowherd, the noble-minded Surabhi (the celestial cow) submitted to him:

Surabhi said:

19. Oh Kṛṣṇa! Oh great yogin! Oh Inner controller of the Universe! Oh Creator of the world! Oh Immortal Lord! We are now blessed with a Lord in you as the protector of the world.

20. Oh Protector of the World! You are the only Supreme Deity to us. Hence for the prosperity and success of cows, Brāhmaṇas and gods as well as of saintly persons, you be our Ruler (Indra).

21. As per directions of god Brahmā, we are going to crown (lit. give coronatory ablution to) you as our Supreme Ruler (Indra). You have incarnated for lightning the burden of the earth, Oh Inner Soul of the Universe.

Śrī Śuka said:

22-23. Praying Kṛṣṇa with these words, Surabhi, the celestial cow, consecrated him by sprinkling her milk on him, while Indra, accompanied by gods and sages and instructed by (Aditi and other) mothers of gods crowned him, bathing him with waters of the heavenly Gaṅgā brought by the celestial king-elephant Airāvata, with his trunk. He proclaimed Kṛṣṇa, the descendant of Daśārha as ‘Govinda’.

Indra said:

23(A).^[10] I am the Indra of gods. You have attained the Indra-hood of the cows (cattle). People will sing of you as ‘Govinda’ in this world.

24. Gandharvas, Vidyādharas, Siddhas and Cāraṇas headed by Tumbaru, Nārada and others arrived there. They sang of Hari’s glory that washes off all the sins of the world. Overwhelmed with joy, celestial damsels danced beautifully.

25. The prominent ones among gods glorified him and showered him profusely with wonderful flowers. At that time, all the three worlds attained the Zenith of felicity while the cows drenched the earth with their milk.

26. Rivers flowed with various kinds of delicious drinks; the trees exuded sweet honey profusely. Bumper crops were harvested from unploughed lands and mountains exhibited precious stones (on their outward parts instead of concealing them in mines).

27. When Kṛṣṇa was crowned, all animals, though cruel and ferocious by nature, shed off their enmity.

28. Having thus coronated Lord Govinda (Kṛṣṇa) as the Protector of cows and Gokulas, Indra, with the permission of Kṛṣṇa, went to the celestial world in the company of gods.

Footnotes and references:

[1]:

Goloka refers to a special heaven for cows. It is above Brahmaloka. Surabhi, daughter of Dakṣa or the divine cow, Rādhā, Kṛṣṇa’s companion at Gokula and other eminent devotees of Kṛṣṇa have a place there. This divine world was granted to Surabhi by god Brahmā (Mahābhārata Anu 83. 29-39). It is described in glorious terms in the same chapter (Anu 83.37-44).

[2]:

(1) Bhāgavata Candrikā Your abode constitutes of absolutely pure sattva, untinged by rajas and tamas and hence quiescent (free from love, hate etc.). It is attainable through your meditation and worship. This phenomenal existence which is the current of three guṇas and their products originates in your will; the causes of the assumption of a corporeal form have no place in You.

(2) Padaratnāvalī I seek shelter in your Abode (which is verily yourself). In it even absolutely pure sattva has no place, what of rajas and tamas. It is auspicious, constituted of knowledge. The stream of three guṇas which is controlled by your will has no place there as it has in jīvas due to their attachment. Māyā the cause of guṇa-current has no place in you.

[3]:

tad-hetava...tat-kṛtāḥ:

Bhāgavata Candrikā: Greed and others which are the consequences after assuming the body and the causes leading to other future births.

Padaratnāvalī: How can the guṇas which cause saṃsāra be imagined in the Lord.

Padaratnāvalī further states that the Lord disciplines both the good and the wicked and quotes Agni Purāṇa.

asatāṃ ca satāṃ caiva harir evāṇuśāsakaḥ /
satāṃ tu śreyaṣe saiva hyanuśāstir bhaviṣyati //

[4]:

Subodhinī By assuming forms of a father, preceptor and god of death you inflict punishment for the good of the people. Subodhinī enumerates the inearnations e.g. the Fish, Tortoise etc. as representing the father, the preceptor etc. but does not completely illustrate it.

[5]:

When, at the end of our lives, we see your fearful form, we shed off our pride immediately and take to the noble path of bhakti consisting of remembering the name of the Lord, applying gopīcandana, wearing a wreath of Tulasī etc.—Subodhinī

[6]:

VT. cautions us that Indra did not pray this with a sincere and pure heart and he behaved the same way at the time of taking away the pārijāta tree.

[7]:

antaḥsthe'pyaparicchinnāya—Bhāvāratha Dīpikā

[8]:

You are the cause and controller of everything but are not identical as a Substance—Bhāgavata Candrikā

[9]:

Here God’s being embodiment of sat (Existence), cit (Consciousness) and ānanda (bliss), bestower of the wishes of the devotees and having a form constituted of pure knowledge are emphasized—Subodhinī

[10]:

Yande’s Bombay edition adds this verse in the footnote Bhāgavata Purāṇa v.l. 7 p. 397.