The Curse upon the Yadu Dynasty

This verse answers Parīkṣit Mahārāja’s question as to how the powerful members of the Yadu dynasty could be cursed by the brāhmaṇas and thus destroy themselves in a fratricidal war. By the words saṁhartum aicchata kulam it is clearly stated that Lord Kṛṣṇa Himself desired to withdraw His dynasty and therefore engaged the brāhmaṇas as His agent. Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura remarks here that Kṛṣṇa had clearly demonstrated the insurpassable beauty and strength of His personal form, pastimes and pleasures to all the residents of the earth. Thus His incarnation to kill the demons, save the devotees and reestablish religious principles had been completely successful. When Lord Kṛṣṇa noticed that His mission was now complete, everything having been done perfectly, He desired to return to His transcendental abode, along with the Vṛṣṇis. Thus the Lord personally arranged for the Yadu dynasty to be cursed by the brāhmaṇas. According to Viśvanātha Cakravartī Ṭhākura, āpta-kāmaḥ means that Kṛṣṇa is always self-satisfied, and yet in order to execute His transcendental pastimes He arranged to destroy His own dynasty for three specific purposes, namely, to reestablish in the heavenly planets those demigods who had taken birth among the Yadus to assist Him, to reestablish His plenary Viṣṇu expansions in Their abodes, such as Vaikuṇṭha, Śvetadvīpa and Badarikāśrama, and to remove Himself from the vision of the material world, along with His eternal associates. In this connection, Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī has made several important remarks about the destruction of the Yadu dynasty. He states that many so-called religious persons have fallen down by committing the second offense against chanting the holy name, namely viṣṇau sarveśvareśe tad-itara-sama-dhīḥ, considering another living entity to be equal to Lord Viṣṇu, who is the Lord of lords. One who is captured by the impersonal tendency of Māyāvāda philosophy falsely thinks that the external, material energy of the Lord is equal to His internal, spiritual potency. In this way, one equates ordinary living entities with the Supreme Personality of Godhead, taking Kṛṣṇa to be another aspect of māyā. This is a most unfortunate misconception, for it spoils one’s opportunity to understand God as He actually is. Persons inclined toward this illusory conception of life would undoubtedly consider the members of the Yadu dynasty equal in all respects to Kṛṣṇa and worship the future descendants of Kṛṣṇa’s family as being equal to Kṛṣṇa Himself. Thus the continued presence of the Yadu dynasty on the earth would certainly constitute a great impediment on the path of spiritual understanding and a great burden on the earth. To counteract the danger to the world from the offense of equating Viṣṇu with the family of Viṣṇu, the Lord decided to crush the Yadu family. The Supreme Lord, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, is always affectionate to His devotees, but whenever the familial descendants of Lord Kṛṣṇa become inimical or indifferent to Him, not loving His pure devotees or making friendship with His servants, such so-called family members of the Lord become impediments to His will. There is a tangible danger that ignorant living beings will worship such inimical persons, revering them as close associates of Kṛṣṇa. For example, to consider Kaṁsa the maternal uncle of Kṛṣṇa and therefore a faithful servant of Kṛṣṇa would be a completely erroneous conclusion. By such a misconception, evil men who oppose the Lord may be accepted as His intimate associates, and persons inimical to Kṛṣṇa may be thought of as His surrendered dependents appearing in His own family. The purpose of the destruction of the Yadu dynasty was to eradicate the false logic of the Māyāvādīs who desire to see everything as one in all respects and who therefore improperly reason that the enemies of Kṛṣṇa’s devotees can be His intimate family members.