|
Abolition of Indra’s Worship
One day, Krishna observed that the people were preparing for the worship of Indra. He asked His father Nanda “Tell me, O father! What is this occasion for your great festivity? What is the object? To whom is it intended? By whom and how is the sacrifice to be performed?”
Nanda replied, “My beloved child! Indra is the Lord of the clouds. He will give us rain by worshipping him. The rains give life to all beings. Therefore, people worship Indra by these sacrificial offerings. Whatever is left after offering him in sacrifice, we use for our subsistence in order to attain the three objects of life, viz., Dharma [1], Artha [2] and Kama [3]. Indra is the dispenser of the fruit of our exertions.”
Krishna replied, “O revered father! By the force of Karma a creature is born, and by the force of Karma it passes away. The birth and death of men are shaped by their own Karma. Happiness and misery, fear, safety, these are all the effects of Karma. If there be any God who dispenses the fruits of Karma, he must also follow that Karma. He cannot act independently. When people are governed by their own Karma, where does Indra come in? What has Indra to do with creatures here who simply follow the course of their Karmas? Because he is not able to alter what is fixed for men by Nature, what is predestined by the latent potentialities of one’s past deeds. Svabhava or Karmic tendency is decreed by fate. Man is subject to his nature formed by the latent Samskaras of his past deeds. He follows his own nature. The whole universe consisting of Devas, Asuras, men, etc., lives, moves and has its being in Nature. By the force of his Karma a creature attains to several corporeal existences high or low, and also loses them. Karma is one’s guide. Karma is the supreme ruler. “What can Indra do? Therefore, let us make offerings to our cows, our Brahmins, our hills, and fallen people. Let dogs be properly fed. Let the cows be supplied with fodder.”
Nanda and other Gopas approved what Krishna said. They did everything in accordance with Sri Krishna’s instructions. They made offerings to the cows, to the Brahmins and to the hill Govardhana. They went round the hill. Krishna said, “I am the Hill.” Sri Krishna assumed another gigantic form and manifested Himself on the top of the hill in order to confirm the faith of the Gopas. He told the people that He was the deity presiding over the mountain. He then began to consume the offerings that were made to the Hill.
|
|