|
105.KRISHNA PASSES AWAY
Soon, all the Yadavas were in the quarrel
on one side or the other and presently
from words they came to blows, which
swiftly developed into a free fight.
Satyaki, with his sword drawn, sprang
upon Kritavarma and cut his head off,
exclaiming: "Here is the end of the
coward who killed sleeping soldiers! "
Others immediately fell upon Satyaki with
their drinking bowls and pots and
anything they could lay hands upon.
Pradyumna, Krishna's son, joined the fray
to rescue Satyaki and there was a
desperate melee in which both Satyaki
and Pradyumna were killed.
Krishna knew that the destined hour was
come, and plucking the tall rushes, which
fringed the beach, laid about him with
them indiscriminately.
This led to every one of the Yadavas
doing the same and there was great
indiscriminate slaughter. The rishis' curse
had begun to work.
The rushes that had grown out of the mace
became each one of them a mace as it was
plucked by the doomed men in their
unreasonable fury. They used them on one
another with deadly effect and soon all of
them were destroyed in this drunken
brawl.
Balarama, who was seeing all this, was
overwhelmed with shame and disgust and
sank to the ground. He gave up his life as
he lay in a yoga trance. Balarama passed
away into the ocean in a stream of light,
which issued from his forehead like a
silver serpent. Thus ended the avatar of
Narayana in Balarama.
Krishna saw all his people thus destroy
themselves as predestined. When he saw
the passing of Balarama, he roamed about
in deep meditation in the wilderness,
pondering on the completion of his avatar.
"The time has come for me to go," he said
to himself and, lying on the ground fell
asleep.
In that wooded beach, a hunter, prowling
for game, saw Vasudeva lying on the
ground among the shrubs. From a
distance, the hunter mistook Krishna for a
wild animal resting on the ground.
He bent his bow and shot an arrow at the
prostrate figure which, piercing his foot in
the insteep, went full through his body.
Thus did the great Vasudeva depart from
the world of men.
|
|