Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama Once upon a time while Lord Krsna and Balarama were living peacefully in Their great city of Dvaraka, there was the rare occasion of a full solar eclipse, such as takes place at the end of every kalpa, or day of Brahma. At the end of every kalpa the sun is covered by a great cloud, and incessant rain covers the lower planetary systems up to Svargaloka. By astronomical...

Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama There were many visitors who came to see Krsna, and among them were the Pandavas, headed by King Yudhisthira. After talking with the gopis and bestowing upon them the greatest benediction, Lord Krsna came to welcome King Yudhisthira and other relatives who had come to see Him. He first of all inquired from them whether their situation was auspicious. Actually, there i...

Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama Among the women present at Kuruksetra during the solar eclipse were Kunti, Gandhari, Draupadi, Subhadra and the queens of many other kings, as well as the gopis from Vrndavana. When the different queens of Lord Krsna were submitting their statements as to how they were married and accepted by Lord Krsna as His wives, all the female members of the Kuru dynasty were str...

Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama It is a Vedic custom that the junior members of the family should offer respects to the elderly persons every morning. The children or the disciples especially should offer their respects to the parents or the spiritual master in the morning. In pursuance of this Vedic principle, Lord Krsna and Balarama used to offer Their obeisances to Their father, Vasudeva, along w...

Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama After hearing this incident, King Pariksit became more inquisitive to hear about Krsna and His pastimes, and thus he inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami how his grandmother Subhadra was kidnapped by his grandfather Arjuna at the instigation of Lord Krsna. King Pariksit was very much eager to learn about his grandfather's kidnapping and marriage of his grandmother. Thus ...

Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama King Pariksit inquired from Sukadeva Gosvami about a very important topic in understanding transcendental subject matter. His question was, "Since Vedic knowledge generally deals with the subject matter of the three qualities of the material world, how then can it approach the subject matter of transcendence, which is beyond the approach of the three material modes? S...

Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama As a great devotee of Krsna, King Pariksit was already liberated, but for clarification he was asking various questions of Sukadeva Gosvami. In the previous chapter, King Pariksit's question was, "What is the ultimate goal of the Vedas?" And Sukadeva Gosvami explained the matter giving authoritative descriptions from the disciplic succession, beginning with Sanandana ...

Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama Long, long ago, there was an assembly of great sages on the bank of the river Sarasvati, and they performed a great sacrifice of the name Satrayajna. In such assemblies, the great sages present usually discuss Vedic subject matters and philosophical topics, and in this particular meeting the following question was raised: The three predominating deities of this ma...

Published on Sunday, January 10, 2010 by krishna balarama After returning from the spiritual kingdom, which he was able to visit personally along with Krsna, Arjuna was very much astonished. He thought to himself that although he was only an ordinary living entity, by the grace of Krsna it had been possible for him to see personally the spiritual world. Not only had he seen the spiritual world, but he had also personally s...