If Krsna is God, how can He “die” after being hit by the arrow of a hunter?
The disappearance of Krsna is a mysterious subject. We all understand that Krsna is God and that He is immortal, but at the same time, there is a description of God "dying" and leaving this world.
The disappearance of Krsna is a mysterious subject. We all understand that Krsna is God and that He is immortal, but at the same time, there is a description of God "dying" and leaving this world.
Mayavadis argue that Krsna is just like us. He is a part of the Brahman who accepts a material body, executes some activities, and later dies, relinquishing this material body and merging again into Brahman. That's why their philosophy is called "Mayavada"; they mistakenly believe that Krsna accepts a material body, a body made of Maya.
We, as Vaishnavas, however, understand that Krsna has a spiritual body that is eternal. Different from us, Krsna's body and Krsna's soul are non-different. When Krsna comes in His different incarnations, He just changes His form; He doesn't change His body.
So, understanding that Krsna has a spiritual body, how can he "die", after being hit by the arrow of a hunter?
The first reason is that when Krsna comes, He shows His pastimes in chronological order, so we can understand them. In this way, everything has a beginning (when Krsna is "born" in the prison house), and therefore everything needs to have an end, and that's Krsna being hit by the arrow of the hunter and leaving after instructing Uddhava and Maitreya. It's described that it is just like a magician, who can appear to "die" after being cut in half, being drowned, or burned, while in reality, everything is just a trick, and in the next moment, he is alive and well. In the same way, Krsna plays a pastime when it appears that He "dies" just to have an excuse to move to the next universe and continue His pastimes.
There is yet another reason, that is to give the atheists an excuse to reject the divinity of Krsna if they so desire. Krsna doesn't want to force anyone to go back to the spiritual world. He gives us the Vedas, and He even comes personally to show His pastimes, but He waits until we ourselves develop a desire to go back. Because of this, He always leaves some excuse for the atheist to not believe in Him. Devotees understand that His "dying" after being hit by the arrow of the hunter is just a play, but materialists who are just looking for an excuse to accuse Krsna of being an ordinary man get an excuse to do so.
We all know about Bhīṣmadeva. He is something like a superhero, having fought on equal terms with Paraśurāma, who previously had annihilated the whole Kṣatriya class 21 times. When Arjuna was fighting with him, Krsna was driving Arjuna's chariot. Having feelings for Arjuna, Bhīṣmadeva didn't really want to injure him, and therefore he was aiming his arrows at Krsna, whom he understood would not be harmed by them. Krsna accepted these arrows of Bhīṣmadeva as an offering and was not the least disturbed. For Krsna, these arrows were just like an offering of flowers in the temple. So, how can we accept the same Krsna who was hit in the chest by hundreds of arrows from the most powerful Kṣatriya of the time, without feeling any discomfort, could have died after being hit in the foot by the arrow of an ordinary hunter? Only an unintelligent materialist could believe it.
In any case, Krsna's disappearance was synchronized with the disappearance of the Yadu dynasty. The Yadus can be divided into two groups. The first were the eternal associates of Krsna who came with Him from the spiritual world. These Yadus never left the city and just went back to the spiritual world when the city disappeared. The second group was formed by the demigods and other devotees who joined Krsna on this planet. The Yadus who were incarnations of demigods left the city, went to perform the sacrifice, and were killed in the fight. In this way, they could go back to their posts and continue managing the universe.
In his purport to SB 1.15.34, Srila Prabhupada explains: "The Lord and His eternal associates appeared on earth to help the administrative demigods in eradicating the burden of the world. He, therefore, called for some of the confidential demigods to appear in the Yadu family and serve Him in His great mission. After the mission was fulfilled, the demigods, by the will of the Lord, relinquished their corporeal bodies by fighting amongst themselves in the madness of intoxication."
Another part of the second group was the wives of Krsna, as well as His parents and other dependents. Some of the wives of Krsna were previously celestial girls who were cursed to be kidnapped after attaining Krsna as their husband, and others were Gopis who wanted to become wives, and after finishing this pastime, had to go back to their original position as Gopis in Vṛndāvana. To accomplish both, Krsna orchestrated another pastime.
After Krsna was hit by the arrow of the hunter Jara, and was sitting under the Banyan tree, Daruka (his driver) appeared there. Krsna told him:
"O driver, go to Dvārakā and tell Our family members how their loved ones destroyed one another. Also tell them of the disappearance of Lord Saṅkarṣaṇa and of My present condition. You and your relatives should not remain in Dvārakā, the capital of the Yadus, because once I have abandoned that city it will be inundated by the ocean. You should all take your own families, together with My parents, and under Arjuna’s protection go to Indraprastha."
This group was being escorted by Arjuna to Indraprastha (Hastināpura) when they were attacked by a group of cowherds on the way.
These cowherds were armed with just sticks, but still, Arjuna couldn't defeat them, despite his best efforts. The power that Arjuna displayed during the battle of Kurukṣetra had left him. Srila Prabhupada explains this on 1.15.5:
"The power and energy which were bestowed upon Arjuna were required for fulfillment of the mission of the Lord, but when His mission was fulfilled, the emergency powers were withdrawn from Arjuna because the astounding powers of Arjuna, which were astonishing even to the denizens of heaven, were no longer required, and they were not meant for going back home, back to Godhead. If endowment of powers and withdrawal of powers by the Lord are possible even for a great devotee like Arjuna, or even the demigods in heaven, then what to speak of the ordinary living beings who are but figs compared to such great souls. The lesson is, therefore, that no one should be puffed up for his powers borrowed from the Lord. The sane man should rather feel obliged to the Lord for such benefactions and must utilize such power for the service of the Lord. Such power can be withdrawn at any time by the Lord, so the best use of such power and opulence is to engage them in the service of the Lord."
After defeating Arjuna, these cowherds (who were actually expansions of Krsna) took the ladies and brought them all back to Godhead. Krsna's wives joined Him in His eternal pastimes, the Gopis were brought back to Vṛndāvana, and His parents and other relatives went to the next universe where He was about to start His pastimes.
Some sources say that just like Krsna sent this message to his wives through Daruka, He sent a similar message to the inhabitants of Vṛndāvana before going with Arjuna and Bhima to kill Jarasadanda.
In any case, after being defeated by the cowherds, Arjuna went back to Indraprastha alone, where he met with King Yudhiṣṭhira (as described in the first canto of Srimad Bhagavatam) and narrated to him what had happened. Although Arjuna looked dejected and had tears in his eyes, these were not ordinary symptoms of sorrow, but actually ecstatic symptoms due to the separation from Krsna. We can see that after giving the news to Yudhiṣṭhira, Arjuna immediately started to remember and narrate several pastimes with the Lord. This made it clear that he was fully Krsna-conscious.
After receiving the news from Arjuna, the Pandavas installed Maharaja Pariksit as the king and departed to the Himalayas to practice devotional service and go back to Godhead. In the Srimad Bhagavatam, it's described that they went on the same bodies because, due to their service to Krsna, their bodies were already spiritual.
Different from what is stated in some versions of the Mahabharata, the Srimad Bhagavatam suggests that Draupadi didn't go with her husbands to the Himalayas but stayed in the palace discussing Krsna's pastimes with Subadra, and in this way, both attained perfection, just like their husbands.
Srila Prabhupada gives a very powerful purport on 1.15.50: "When flying an airplane, one cannot take care of other planes. Everyone has to take care of his own plane, and if there is any danger, no other plane can help another in that condition. Similarly, at the end of life, when one has to go back home, back to Godhead, everyone has to take care of himself without help rendered by another. The help is, however, offered on the ground before flying in space. Similarly, the spiritual master, the father, the mother, the relatives, the husband and others can all render help during one’s lifetime, but while crossing the sea one has to take care of himself and utilize the instructions formerly received. Draupadī had five husbands, and no one asked Draupadī to come; Draupadī had to take care of herself without waiting for her great husbands. And because she was already trained, she at once took to concentration upon the lotus feet of Lord Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa, the Personality of Godhead. The wives also got the same result as their husbands, in the same manner; that is to say, without changing their bodies they reached the destination of Godhead. Śrīla Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura suggests that both Draupadī and Subhadrā, although her name is not mentioned herein, got the same result. None of them had to quit the body."
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