The Advent of Lord Kṛṣṇa: Introduction

It has already been discussed that mother earth implored Lord Brahmā to give her relief from the distress created by the burdensome demons and that Lord Brahmā informed her that Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself was going to appear. Kṛṣṇa says in Bhagavad-gītā (4.8): paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁvināśāya ca duṣkṛtāmdharma-saṁsthāpanārthāyasambhavāmi yuge yuge Whenever there is a burden created by the demons and whenever the innocent devotees are distressed by demoniac rulers, the Lord appears in due course of time to kill the demons with the assistance of His real representatives, who are technically called demigods. In the Upaniṣads it is stated that the demigods are different parts of the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As it is the duty of the parts of the body to serve the whole, it is the duty of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees to serve Kṛṣṇa as He wants. Kṛṣṇa’s business is to kill the demons, and therefore this should be a devotee’s business also. Because the people of Kali-yuga are fallen, however, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu, out of kindness for them, did not bring any weapon to kill them. Rather, by spreading Kṛṣṇa consciousness, love of Kṛṣṇa, He wanted to kill their nefarious, demoniac activities. This is the purpose of the Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. Unless the demoniac activities on the surface of the world are diminished or vanquished, no one can be happy. The program for the conditioned soul is fully described in Bhagavad-gītā, and one simply has to follow these instructions to become happy. Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu has therefore prescribed: harer nāma harer nāmaharer nāmaiva kevalamkalau nāsty eva nāsty evanāsty eva gatir anyathā Let people chant the Hare Kṛṣṇa mantra constantly. Then their demoniac tendencies will be killed, and they will become first-class devotees, happy in this life and in the next.