Krsna appears to save the planet after the disastrous reign of Vena
There was a time, early in the creation of the universe, that our planet came under the reign of a very sinful king: Vena. This period was so significant that it is still remembered in the Bhagavatam.
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There was a time, early in the creation of the universe, that our planet came under the reign of a very sinful king: Vena. This period was so significant that it is still remembered in the pages of Srimad Bhagavatam, even though it happened billions of years ago, in the first Manvantara.
Not only was Vena an atheist, but he became very proud and started considering himself higher than anyone, including the Brāhmaṇas. He thus started misusing his power and insulting great personalities. He prohibited the Brāhmaṇas from performing sacrifices or giving charity, stopping all types of religious sacrifices. This, in turn, made the planet stop the production of grains, creating a great famine that threatened to consume all citizens. This was the first great famine in history, and as in many other tragedies throughout history, it was man-made, created from the greed of a single person.
What did the brāhmanas do? Initially, they tried to reform Vena by offering him good advice, but when he categorically refused all good instruction, they decided to kill him with a curse.
By killing Vena, the Brāhmaṇas stopped his policy of suppressing sacrifices and the worship of the Supreme Lord. However, this led to another problem, which was the rise of thieves and criminals who started plundering the citizens unopposed. It is described that the running of all these thieves formed dust storms around the kingdom, suggesting they had organized themselves in large hordes and were systematically plundering and killing. The save the citizens, the Lord appeared as Pṛthu Maharaja.
It was improper for the Brāhmaṇas to get involved in political affairs and start fighting these gangs, even if with curses, but at the same time, they couldn’t just ignore the plea of the citizens:
“The great sages began to think that although a brāhmaṇa is peaceful and impartial because he is equal to everyone, it is still not his duty to neglect poor humans. By such neglect, a brāhmaṇa’s spiritual power diminishes, just as water kept in a cracked pot leaks out.” (SB 4.14.41)
This verse reveals a very important principle: having the power to protect implies a duty to do so. An armed policeman who fails to protect an innocent person from being attacked is liable to be punished for negligence. In the highest sense, protection means to distribute transcendental knowledge and engage people in Krsna consciousness. Every Vaiṣnava is also a Brāhmaṇa in qualification, and the duty of such Brāhmaṇas is to share their spiritual knowledge and try to bring people to Krsna consciousness. As Prabhupada mentions: “If they do not do something to relieve the distressed condition of human society, it is said that due to such neglect their spiritual knowledge diminishes.”
Often, Vaiṣnavas and other transcendentalists prefer to live in isolation, cultivating their own spiritual practice without caring for the suffering conditioned souls, but Prahlāda Mahārāja said that he did not want liberation alone. He wanted to deliver all fallen souls.
The sages thus decided to act on the situation. Vena had appeared in the lineage of Prahlada Maharaja because Anga made a mistake of getting involved with Sunīthā, who had been born in the dynasty of irreligion. The same Sunīthā had preserved the body of Vena by embalming it. The brāhmanas thus decided that the lineage of Dhruva Maharaja should not be stopped, because children there were prone to be great devotees of the Lord.
However, how to revive a lineage where the last descendant had just been killed? With current medical technology, it would be impossible, but the Brāhmaṇas knew a way: all bodies are produced from material elements, and thus by manipulating the material elements in a dead body, it is possible to produce a new body. This is a very specific, subtle art that is lost nowadays, but that was known to these powerful Brāhmaṇas present at the time.
Since the body of Vena was preserved by Sunīthā, the Brāhmaṇas decided to use it to produce the body of a saintly king who could continue the seminal lineage of Dhruva Maharaja.
First of all, the body of Vena had to be purified of all contamination. Therefore, they first used the specific technique to produce a dwarf called Bāhuka, who embodied all the contamination of Vena and became the patriarch of the Naiṣāda race, hunters who live in the forests and hills.
After purifying the body of Vena in this way, the Brāhmaṇas churned it again to produce a true descendant of Dhruva Maharaja:
“The great sage Maitreya continued: My dear Vidura, thus the brāhmaṇas and the great sages again churned the two arms of King Vena’s dead body. As a result, a male and female couple came out of his arms. The great sages were highly learned in Vedic knowledge. When they saw the male and female born of the arms of Vena’s body, they were very pleased, for they could understand that the couple was an expansion of a plenary portion of Viṣṇu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead. (SB 4.15.1-2)
When Krsna personally expands Himself, appearing in many forms with the same physical features (like He did during the rasa dance and to marry the 16,108 queens in Dvārakā), these expansions are called prakāśa. When He expands in forms that are different in appearance (like Lord Balarāma or the different forms of Viṣnu), these forms as called vilāsa.
When the Lord partially manifests His qualities and opulences, like in the forms of Mahā-Vishnu, Garbhodakaśāyī Vishnu, and Kṣīrodakaśāyī Viṣnu, as well as Matsya and other avatāras, these forms are called partial incarnations. The Lord also manifests in forms that take charge of the three material modes as Vishnu, Brahma, and Śiva; these are called qualitative incarnations. Finally, the Lord can empower a jīva to perform wonderful activities, such as in the case of Vyāsadeva, Paraśurāma, Nārada Muni, and the four Kumāras. These empowered incarnations are called śaktyāveśa, or empowered incarnations. The śaktyāveśa incarnations are also called āveśa or kalā (part of a plenary expansion, part of a potency or partial incarnation of a plenary expansion). They manifest just a fragment of the Lord’s opulences, but because the Lord is unlimited, even a fragment of His potency makes them unlimitedly powerful, just as in the case of Paraśurāma annihilating all Kṣatriyas 21 times. In practice, the difference between different types of incarnations is more technical, since they are all manifestations of the same absolute Lord. Technically speaking, there is a difference between a leg, a hand, and a finger, but in the case of the Lord, any part is a good as any other, and this is appreciated by pure devotees.
This point is further explained by Srila Prabhupada in his purport:
“In Bhagavad-gītā the Lord says that whenever one sees an extraordinary power, he should conclude that a specific partial representation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead is present. There are innumerable such personalities, but not all of them are direct viṣṇu-tattva plenary expansions of the Lord. Many living entities are classified among the śakti-tattvas. Such incarnations, empowered for specific purposes, are known as śaktyāveśa-avatāras. King Pṛthu was such a śaktyāveśa-avatāra of the Lord. Similarly, Arci, King Pṛthu’s wife, was a śaktyāveśa-avatāra of the goddess of fortune.” (SB 4.15.6 purport)
King Pṛthu is an empowered incarnation of the ruling power of the Lord invested with the potency for maintaining all living entities, who appeared to restore proper ruling after all the disturbances of the reign of Vena. As the Lord empowered Pṛthu to rule with full power and authority, Laksmi Devi empowered Arci with all good qualities to be his queen.
Pṛthu was born not as a child, but as an already a grown-up. He was thus quickly installed on the throne to solve the chaos created during the rule of Vena. During his enthronement, all the demigods were present, including Brahmā and Śiva. Lord Brahmā recognized Pṛthu as an empowered incarnation by noting the presence of the lines of Lord Viṣnu’s palm on his right hand and impressions of lotus flowers on the soles of his feet.
All the principal demigods, the predominant deities of the planets, rivers, seas, hills, mountains, etc., as well as representatives of the different races that inhabit the universe, offered gifts to the king. The Lord Himself was present in the enthronement as Lord Hari (or Upendra) and presented the king with a partial form of His sudarśana chakra.
As norm in important universal events, professional reciters were engaged in offering prayers and glorifying the qualities of Pṛthu Maharaja. However, showing his humility, he said:
“O gentle reciters, offer such prayers in due course of time, when the qualities of which you have spoken actually manifest themselves in me. The gentle who offer prayers to the Supreme Personality of Godhead do not attribute such qualities to a human being, who does not actually have them.” (SB 4.15.23)
In his purports, Prabhupada emphasizes that we should not accept an ordinary man as an incarnation of God, as is common nowadays. Even though Pṛthu Maharaja was in fact an empowered incarnation of the Lord and had already been accepted by all demigods and important personalities as such, he refused to accept glorification based on qualities he hadn’t yet manifested. This is just another example of the divine qualities of a great ruler.
The professional reciters, however, didn’t stop glorifying the king. On the contrary, they were further encouraged by his gentleness and sincere display of humility and by the great sages who were present. These prayers, described in chapter 4.16, explain more about the qualities of King Pṛthu and his rule, as well as the qualities of a saintly leader. They are not based on the imagination of the reciters, but on instructions they received from the great sages who were present. Here are the main points:
a) The Lord appeared as Pṛthu through His internal potency. Even though appearing from the dead body of Vena, Pṛthu is not a product of this material world. Just as other empowered incarnations, he carries the divine potency of the Lord, who is fully independent and can appear anywhere. The reciters considered themselves incapable of fully describing the glories of the Lord, but went ahead in an attempt to purify themselves. Similarly, although we are unable to offer prayers to the Lord, our duty is to try our best in order to purify ourselves. Even though demigods like Lord Brahmā and Lord Śiva cannot adequately glorify the Lord, we should not stop our glorification.
b) Although considering themselves incapable, the reciters declared that they would try to speak according to instructions received from authoritative sages and scholars. This is actually the greatest qualification. Every conditioned soul is imperfect; therefore, it is impossible for any imperfect person to glorify the Lord. However, we can speak in accordance with the predecessor ācāryas, and when we are successful in that, we can speak with perfect knowledge, even from an imperfect platform. This applies both in offering prayers to the Lord and when teaching Krsna consciousness to others. Even if completely unable to speak anything, we can ask people to chant Hare Krsna.
c) King Pṛthu will be the perfect ruler, engaging everyone in religious duties and punishing the atheists who reject the Vedic system. In this way, he will be the true friend of the citizens, since without God consciousness, no one can be happy.
d) In the Bhagavad-gita, Krsna mentions that by cooperation between men and demigods, prosperity will reign for all. By inducing people on Earth to perform sacrifices, Pṛthu Maharaja will maintain the demigods, and when the demigods later refuse to cooperate with him, he will perform their functions by his own potency, sending proper rainfall.
e) In a proper government, the resources collected through taxes are not just used to maintain the administrative machine, but are accumulated and used to support the citizens in times of need, like famine or flood. Pṛthu Maharaja would perform this principle perfectly, and thus he is compared to the sun, who evaporates water and returns it during the rainy season.
f) Just as the planet is trampled by all kinds of people and animals but continues to maintain all, King Pṛthu would maintain all inhabitants of his kingdom with all necessary resources, even at the cost of his own comfort. Even though some citizens would break the laws of the state, he would be tolerant and look after their welfare.
g) Repeating the predictions of great sages, the reciters predicted that in the future, Pṛthu would replace Indra in sending rain when he would become unreliable in his duties, and thus protect the citizens from drought. Being the incarnation of the ruling power of the Lord, nothing was impossible for him.
h) When people can understand what policies the government will adopt, or how much money is available in the treasury, there is always space for business or political speculation. Pṛthu Maharaja would thus keep both a complete secret, even though keeping sufficient funds for all eventualities, different from modern governments, which are drowned in debts and enter into crisis under the smallest instability. In this way, Pṛthu’s government would be perfectly stable, no one would be able to take unfair advantage, and there would be no covetousness.
i) How could an incarnation of Krsna come from the dead body of a sinful king like Vena? The analogy given is that he appeared just as fire coming out of wood. Just as fire is simultaneously pure and powerful, no one would be able to overcome its strength.
j) Pṛthu Maharaja would be able to perfectly understand what was going on in his dominions and take appropriate measures, and no one would be able to understand what kind of system of espionage he was using. Often, leaders can be tricked and manipulated by flattery and other games, but this also would fail with him, since he would remain neutral in both glorification and vilification. In punishing criminals, he would also be completely neutral, punishing or not exclusively based on guilt without intrigues, and he would spread his influence everywhere in his dominions just as the sun shines everywhere without impediment.
k) The authority of Pṛthu would not be based just on power. Rather, the citizens themselves would willingly accept his rule and remain fully satisfied due to his practical activities.
l) Pṛthu was not just a powerful king and an empowered incarnation, but a pure devotee as well. The reciters thus predicted that even while ruling, he would be able to see everything through the lens of perfect knowledge, understanding that the basic principle of all material activities is ignorance of our real self, and thus that all material varieties are meaningless. Based on this understanding, he would be fully detached in his ruling and thus act as a perfectly impartial king.
After describing all these glories and activities, the reciters concluded:
“No one will be able to disobey the orders of Pṛthu Mahārāja. After conquering the world, he will completely eradicate the threefold miseries of the citizens. Then he will be recognized all over the world. At that time, both the suras and the asuras will undoubtedly glorify his magnanimous activities.” (SB 4.16.27)
Just as his ancestors, Pṛthu Maharaja was the emperor of the whole Bhu-Mandala. The system was that each tract of land was ruled by a different king, who would be responsible for maintaining religious principles, with the emperor overseeing the administration of all smaller states. If at any point there were discrepancies in the management, the emperor would take charge of the management of the respective state and later install a suitable king. This system continued all the way up to the reign of Maharaja Yudhiṣṭhira and Parīkṣit Maharaja.
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