Radha Krishna - Chapter 14: The Disappearance of Lord Krishna

(1) Sûta said: "Arjuna went to the city of Dvârakâ to see his friends and Krishna, the One Glorified by the Vedic Hymns, in order to know what His further plans were. (2) After a few months, when Arjuna did not return from there, Yudhishthhira observed various fearful signs. (3) The time had taken an inauspicious turn: he observed seasonal irregularities and saw that the people in their human sinfulness turned to anger, greed and falsehood in heartening their means of livelihood. (4) There was cheating in ordinary transactions, misunderstanding rose in the regard of well-wishers, fathers, mothers and brothers and also between man and wife there was quarrel. (5) The people gradually were acquiring godless habits as wantonness and such. The king facing these serious matters and bad omens, spoke with his younger brother about it.

(6) Yudhishthhira said [to Bhîma]: 'Arjuna went to see his friends and also wanted to know what Krishna's plans were. (7) It is now seven months ago that your younger brother left, oh Bhîmasena, and I do not know exactly why that is the case. (8) Is it so, as Nârada instructed, that the Supreme Personality has decided it is time to leave this manifest world? (9) From Him we have our wealth, kingdom and wives - through Him the existence of the dynasty and the life of our subjects has become possible and by His mercy we could defeat our enemies and live for a better world. (10) Just look, oh man with the strength of a tiger, at the position of the planets, how things are faring on earth and what is happening to the body and the mind. All these dreadful signs deluding our intelligence indicate a great danger in the near future. (11) Again and again my thighs, eyes, arms and the left side of my body are quivering and I have heart palpitations due to the fear I have. This is all indicative of undesirable happenings. (12) See, o Bhîma, how the jackal frantically cries at sunrise and how the dog barks at me without any fear. (13) Oh tiger among man, the cows treat me indifferently and the asses and such are turning around me while my horses seem to weep. (14) The pigeon appears like a messenger of death and the shrieks of the owls and their rivals the crows make my heart tremble as if they wish the void of the cosmos. (15) Yuddhisthira and bad omens

Oh Bhîma, see how smoke circles in the sky and how the earth is throbbing along with the hills and mountains with loud thunderbolts out of the blue of a cloudless sky. (16) The wind blows sharply creating darkness with the dust and rain pours like blood from the clouds as an omnipresent disaster. (17) The sun is shining less - see how the stars in the sky seem to clash into one another and how the living beings are confounded and agitated as if they are crying. (18) Rivers and their tributaries, lakes and the mind are all perturbed while fire does not ignite with the help of butter. What is this extraordinary time? What is going to happen? (19) The calves do not suck the teats and the cows do not want to be milked looking afraid as if they're weeping, while the bulls do not take pleasure in the pasture ground. (20) The deities seem to be crying and perspiring as if they want to leave the temple and also the cities, villages, towns, gardens, mines and hermitages have lost their beauty being bereft of all happiness. What sort of calamities will befall us? (21) I think that all these great upsurges manifest out of the need for the marks of the lotus feet of the Supreme Personality - the earth bereft of the extraordinary quality of the Supreme Person will be unfortunate without those auspicious signs.'

(22) Oh brahmin, while King Yudhishthhira who observed the bad omens thus was thinking to himself, Arjuna returned from the kingdom of the Yadus. (23) Bowing down at the feet of the king his dejection was unprecedented with the tears that fell from the lotus eyes of his downward looking face. (24) Seeing the anxious heart and pale appearance of Arjuna, the king, who remembered what Nârada had said, questioned him in the midst of the friends. (25) Yudhishthhira said: 'Are our Yadu relatives of Madhu, Bhoja, Das'ârha, Ârha, Sâtvata and Andhaka all happy passing their days in Dvârakâ? (26) Is my respectable [maternal] grandfather S'ûrasena in good health passing his last days and are my [maternal] uncle Vasudeva and his younger brothers all well? (27) Are my aunts - his wives - all seven sisters headed by Devakî in person, with their sons and daughters-in-law all happy? (28-29) Are King Ugrasena, whose son was the mischievous one [Kamsa], and his younger brother, Hridîka and his son Kritavarmâ and Akrûra, Jayanta, Gada, Sârana as well as S'atrujit and the rest all happy? Is also the Supreme Personality Balarâma, who is the protector of the devotees, all right? (30) Are the great warrior Pradyumna [a son of Krishna] and all others of the Vrishni family happy? And is the plenary expansion of Krishna Aniruddha [a grandson of Krishna] faring well? (31) And how are Sushena, Cârudeshna and Sâmba, the son of Jâmbavatî, doing, and the other eminent sons of Krishna as also their very best sons? (32-33) Are likewise the constant companions of Krishna like S'rutadeva, Uddhava and others, Sunanda, Nanda and other leaders doing well? And are the other liberated souls, those best of men in order as well? And are all who are bound in friendship under the protection of Balarâma and Krishna also thinking of our well-being? (34) Is the Supreme Lord, who is the pleasure of the cows and the senses and always cares for the devoted and the brahmins [the ones versed in sacred knowledge], enjoying the pious assembly of His friends around Him in Dvârakâ? (35-36) For the benefit of the protection and elevation of all worlds in the company of the ocean of members of the Yadu dynasty there resides the Original, Supreme Enjoyer together with Ananta [Balarâma]. Because they deserve it, the members of the Yadu family relish in His city under the protection of His arms the transcendental pleasure alike the residents of heaven. (37) By most importantly managing the comforts at the feet, the sixteen thousand companions of the fair sex who are headed by Sathyabhâmâ, made the Lord subdue the denizens of heaven, so that they could enjoy what is normally the privilege of the wives of the controller of the thunderbolt. (38) The Yadus, enjoying the protection of His arms, always fearlessly enter the Sudharmâ assembly hall which, procured by force [from Indra], was worthy of the best of gods.

(39) My dear brother, are you all healthy? You appear to have lost your luster. Is it because of missing the respect being neglected or, my brother, because you were away so long? (40) Have you lost your grip because you were addressed unfriendly or have been threatened, or couldn't you give in charity or keep to the hope of doing so? (41) Were you who are approached for the protection of the learned ones, the children, the cows, the old aged, the diseased and the women, unable to offer shelter to any living being who deserves your care? (42) Have you contacted a reprehensible woman or have you maybe treated an acceptable woman improperly or has your good self on the road been defeated after all by a superior power or by equals? (43) Have you disregarded old men or boys who deserved to dine together with you or did you do something abominable which is hard to forgive? (44) Or is it so that you in your relation to the one most dear, my brother Arjuna, your heart's friend Lord Krishna, you feel a void missing Him all the time? I can think of no other reason why you should suffer such a mental distress.' "