Deliverance of Paundraka

While Shree Balarama, Krishna's elder brother, was away visiting his childhood home of Vrindavan Dham, the ruler of Karusha, Paundraka, foolishly thinking himself to be the Supreme Lord, Vasudeva sent a messenger to Lord Krishna.

Paundraka, who was puffed up, due to a false sense of pride, was encouraged by the flattery of infantile men. They declared, "You are Vasudeva, the Supreme Lord, master of the Universe who has now appeared on earth."

Thus Paundraka sent his messenger to the indestructible Lord Krishna at Dwaraka, Paundraka was acting just like a child who other children are pretending is king.

When his messenger arrived in Dwaraka, he found the lotus- eyed Krishna in his royal court and presented Paundraka’s message to Krishna. The message read, "I am the one and only Lord Vasudeva. There is no other. It is I who have descended to this

world to show mercy to the living entities. Therefore give up your false name. Oh Satvata, give up my personal symbols, which you foolishly now carry, and surrender unto me. If not, then prepare yourself for battle.

The last snare of maya is thinking oneself to be the Supreme Lord, that I am the controller and owner of all I survey.

Shree Bhagavan, after enjoying many jokes of those assembled, told the messenger, "Paundraka, you fool, you ask me to give up my weapons. Watch out! I shall use my Sudarshana chakra to destroy Paundraka as well as his followers, who constitute nothing more than a society of cheaters and cheated. When you lie dead, your face covered by vultures, you will become the shelter of dogs."

Krishna then sent Paundraka’s messenger away and immediately mounted his chariot and headed for Kashi, now present day Varanasi.

Noticing Krishna approaching his protective ground, Paundraka went to meet Krishna’s challenge, along with two full military divisions.

Paundraka’s cohort, the king of Kashi led the rear guard followed by three military divisions.

When Krishna saw the imposter for the first time, he saw he was carrying the Lord’s insignia; the conchshell, Panchajanya, the Sudarshana chakra, his sword, club, and the celebrated Sanya bow. He wore a mock Kaustubha gem, decorated with a garland of forest flowers, and dressed in fire yellow silk. The banner on his chariot bore the image of Garuda. He wore a valuable crown and earrings in the shape of sharks.

Shree Hari couldn’t check his laughter when he saw how the king had dressed up in exact imitation of his own appearance, just like an actor on stage.

The enemies of Lord Hari attacked him with tridents, clubs, lances, swords, axes, and arrows. Krishna counteracted the armies of Paundraka and Kashiraja,which consisted of elephants, chariots, calvary, and infantry. He crushed them just as the fire of annihilation torments the various kinds of living entities at the end of a cosmic age. The battlefield, strewn with broken chariots, horses, elephants, warriors, and camels, which had been severed by Krishna’s Surdashana chakra, illumed like the morbid playground of Lord Shiva.

Shree Krishna pulled his chariot next to Paundraka and addressed him thus: "My dear Paundraka, you requested me to give up my symbols of Lord Vishnu, specifically my disc. Be careful, for I shall give it

up to you, you imposter. You falsely declare yourself to be Vasudeva, imitating Myself. Therefore no one is a greater fool than you." Krishna’s statement is clear…any rascal who advertises himself as God is the greatest fool and has dyslexic thinking, Not realizing his real position as a servant of God.

Krishna continued, "My dear fool, I shall make you renounce my name, which you have falsely assumed."

Having derided Paundraka, Krishna destroyed his chariot with his arrows, then He cut off his head with the Sudarshana disk, Krishna similarly severed Kashiraja’s head from his body and cast it into Kashi like a lotus flower strewn by the wind.

Kabir says that Rama is the greatest medicinal drink and one who takes to Him, becomes full of nectar, for in order to do it, one must cut off one’s head. Cutting off one’s head here symbolizes losing ones ego completely. In order to be absorbed in Divine Bliss one must surrender ones ego completely before the Lord.

Since Paundraka always focused his attention on the form of Vishnu, he received the object of his meditation, sarupya, one of the five kinds of liberation, where he was promoted to Vaikuntha, where the devotees have the same bodily features of Vishnu.

Having killed the envious Paundraka and his ally, Shree Krishna returned to Dwarka. As He entered the gates, the Siddhas of the heavenly planets chanted His Immortal, nectarine glories.

Seeing a head decorated with earrings at the gate of the royal palace, the people present were puzzled. They inquired, "What is this? It’s a head, but whose?" When they recognized it to be the head of their king, the queen’s sons and residents of the city cried, "Alas, Master! Master!

After Sudakshina performed the funeral rights for his father, he resolved that only by killing his father’s murderer can I avenge his death. He assembled his priests to perform puja to Maheshwara. Kasi is the present day Varanasi. The temple of Vishwanantha is visited by many thousands of pilgrams daily.

Lord Shiva, pleased by the puja, appeared at Avimukta and offered Sudakshina his choice of boons. He chose a means to slay his father’s killer.

Shiva told him, " accompanied by brahmanas (the head of society), serve the Dakshinagni fire (the original priest), following the injunctions of the abhichara ritual, which is mentioned in some tantras. Then Dakshinagni along with Pramathas (powerful mystics in Lord Shiva’s regime) will fulfill your desire, if directed against

someone inimical towards brahmanas. Eagerly, Sudakshina invoked the abhichara against Krishna.

If invoked against someone, who is favorable to brahminical culture, the curse would destroy the invoker.

There upon the fire rose out of the altar assuming the form of a fearsome entity. The fiery creature’s beard and hair was like molten copper, his eyes emitting blazing hot cinders. The demon shook his trident while his fangs dripped drops of fire.

The demon then raced to Dwarka, Krishna’s home in the sea, with the company of many disembodied beings, all the while causing an earthquake and fires along the way.

Seeing the approach of Dakshinagni, the denizens of Dwarka were struck with fear, like animals terrified by a forest fire.

Distraught with fear, the people cried out to Janardana, who was playing a game of dice at the time, "Help! Save us from this destructive menace. "

When Krishna heard their agitation and saw even His own men were terrified, He laughed loudly, "Don’t worry, be happy. I’ll protect you."

Krishna who is the all pervading, who is in everybody’s heart and without also, as the Cosmic Manifestation could understand the asura to be a creation of Lord Shiva.

Krishna not wanting to be disturbed in his gambling match dispatched his Sudarshana chakra, his disc weapon.

Then the disc of Lord Mukunda blazed forth like millions of suns. His effulgence blazed like the fire of universal annihilation scorching the sky, heavens as well as the earth, and the fiery demon.

Frustrated by the power of Shree Krishna’s chakra, the fiery creature, produced by black magic, retreated to Varanasi where he burned Sudakshina to ashes, along with his priests. According to the methods of black arts, mantras instructed in the tantras, if the mantra fails to kill the enemy, because it must kill someone, kills the creator along with those that assisted, in this case the priests.

Lord Vishnu’s disc also entered Varanasi in pursuit of the fiery demon and proceeded to burn the city to the ground, along with the demon. After burning the entire city of Varanasi, Sudarshana chakra returned to the presence of Shree Krishna, whose actions are effortless.

Ya enam shravayen martya

Uttamaha-shloka vikramam

Samahito va shrnuyat

Sarva-papaih pranuchyate

"Anyone who narrates this story or anyone who hears this story with faith and attention will be released from all reaction to karmic activities. This is the assurance of Shukadeva Goswami, Vyasadeva’s son, who narrated this story to Maharajah Parikshit, Arjuna’s grandson."

Shreemad Bhagwatam 10.66.43