11 Causes for Kṛṣṇa's Descent

Excerpt from a class by

Śrī Śrīmad Bhaktivedānta Nārāyaṇa Gosvāmī Mahārāja

given in New Braj (Badger), California, June 01 1999.

Excerpt from Secret Truths of the Bhāgavatam (Chapter 1). I bolded portions of the text and added numbers so you can easily navigate the various causes of Kṛṣṇa's descent.

Watch video of the class below (starts at 41 minutes):

Why did Kṛṣṇa descend to this world?

① The first reason is that Pṛthvī-devī (Mother Earth in the form of a cow), along with the demigods, went to Brahmā, the creator. Actually, Brahmā is only the external creator of this world. He is like a manager. Pṛthvī told him, “Recently, my four legs were broken and I cannot walk. My husband, Dharma (religion personified), who has taken the shape of a bull, also cannot walk.”

Nowadays there is so much sin in this world. Both men and women are like animals. So-called saintly persons and sannyāsīs do not observe the rules of saintly life, and they are therefore more wretched than animals. They make an artificial show of saintliness, with big neck beads, five-kilo japa-mālā, and very big tilaka. At the same time, they are always duplicitous, absorbed in making money, and full of lust. Because of this, we have so many problems.

Pṛthvī said, “Please save me and my husband, Dharma.”

Brahmā became very worried and went with Pṛthvī and the demigods to Kṣīra-samudra (the ocean of milk). There he began to do ārādhana (prayerful worship) of Garbhodakaśāyī Viṣṇu. In his trance he heard the reply to his prayers: “I already know of this situation. My Prabhu, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Kṛṣṇa, is also aware, and He will quickly descend. All the demigoddesses, in the form of earthly ladies, should descend to earth – to Gokula, Vṛndāvana, and Mathurā. All you demigods should descend in the form of gopas and Yadus. Kṛṣṇa will appear very soon.”

This is one reason for Kṛṣṇa’s descent.

② Second, the time had come to establish the yuga-dharma. What was the yuga-dharma at that time? Deity worship. Yavanas and others were destroying temples, people had no faith in the Deities, and the standard of worship was the worst it had ever been. In order to save the situation, Kṛṣṇa appeared in this world, bringing within Him the yuga-avatāra, the manvantara, and all other incarnations like Nārāyaṇa, Rāma, Nṛsiṁha, Kalki, and Vāmana.

There were also other reasons for Kṛṣṇa’s descent.

③ Jaya and Vijaya had been cursed to come to this world for three births as demons. Now, in their third birth, they would become Śiśupāla and Dantavakra. Kṛṣṇa had to come to liberate them.

④(a, b, c, d) Moreover, Kṛṣṇa came to fulfill the promises He had made in His form of Rāmacandra. Rāma went to Daṇḍakāraṇya forest with Sītā and Lakṣmaṇa to carry out the orders of His father. There He dressed as a sādhu. Although His hair was jaṭā, matted, He was so beautiful, a teenager of about sixteen years. ④(a) At that time, sixty thousand sages were performing ārādhana, service in meditation, to Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa conjugal, to Rāma, or to others, by mantra. They had been chanting gopāla-mantra, that is, gopī-jana vallabhāya svāhā, for thousands of years. During that long period of time, although the practices of these sages were somewhat weak, they did not become like fish, which die as soon as they are taken out of water. Their practices were much superior to yours, but still [in comparison to the highest level], they were somewhat weak.

Your practices are very weak. Sometimes you chant your gāyatrī-mantra and sometimes you do not. Sometimes you sit awake [to chant] and sometimes you fall asleep. If you think about all your problems instead of concentrating on the mantras, your chanting of mantras will be like zero and you will fall asleep. At that time, big problems will come quickly.

So, these sages were performing their somewhat weak practices, but when they saw Rāma and He glanced upon them, they became inspired and began to pray to Him, “Please fulfill our desires.”

Rāma knew that they wanted to serve Rādhā-Kṛṣṇa conjugal and that they wanted to participate in rāsa and other līlās. He therefore kindly and mercifully told them, “In My next birth I will be Kṛṣṇa, and there in Vraja, by the help of Yogamāyā, you will take birth from the womb of a gopī. At that time, you can meet with Me and I will fulfill your desires.”

The sages continued with their practices for a very long time, from the appearance of Rāma to the appearance of Kṛṣṇa – hundreds of thousands of yugas. Do not think that in a moment you can get pure bhakti as easily as you can get laḍḍūs and rasagullās. “O Guru Mahārāja, you gave me the mantras, but still I have not realized that I am in Goloka Vṛndāvana. I want to be in Vṛndāvana now.”

Vālmīki Ṛṣi took initiation from Nārada, engaged in very severe austerities for sixty thousand years, and then became self-realized. But you do not want to follow all these things, like chanting your mantras. Śrīla Svāmī Mahārāja gave some of you initiation into the gāyatrī-mantra. For one day, two days, one month, or for some years you practiced, but after that you became weak. Especially after his departure, you left your chanting. You have no faith in these mantras. You will have to practice them. It may be that it will take two, three, four, five, or so many births, but our good fortune is that in this Kali-yuga, Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu came to sprinkle His mercy. We can therefore chant with some hope that very soon we can become realized souls. So do not worry. Go on practicing like the Daṇḍakāraṇya ṛṣis.

When Kṛṣṇa descended, these ṛṣis took birth from the womb of the gopīs, and they also became gopīs. Later they worshiped the demigoddess Kātyāyanī for a long time in order to get Kṛṣṇa as their husband. Kṛṣṇa then came and their desires were fulfilled. It was for this reason also that He descended. In the same way, this process will bear fruit for you, but you must do one-pointed kṛṣṇa-bhajana, engaging in all the practices of bhakti.

There is yet another reason for Kṛṣṇa’s descent.

④(b) When Rāma went to Janaka Purī, the rājā-kumārīs, princesses, became charmed to see Him. When they saw that Sītā was married to Him, they developed a very strong desire: “Oh, if Rāma would also marry us, it would be so good. We want Rāma to become our husband; we will not marry anyone else.” With this determination they never married.

Rāma was pleased and told them, “You will take birth in Dvāpara-yuga from the womb of a gopī.”

④(c) Many years later, Rāmacandra ordered Sītā to leave His palace. She left and lived alone in Vālmīki’s āśrama, where she gave birth to Rāma’s twin sons. Rāma stayed in His palace and Sītā stayed in the forest. For certain reasons the king had left His queen, but Rāma never left His dear Sītā. Although He remained in His palace, He always remembered her. His days passed with great difficulty. Rāma felt so much separation that sometimes He would speak with His guru and priest, Vasiṣṭha.

Once Rāma requested Vasiṣṭha, “I want to perform a fire sacrifice, an aśvamedha-yajña or any other yajña. Please allow Me to do this.”

Vasiṣṭha replied, “Because You have left Your wife, You cannot perform any type of sacrifice. You should bring her back and sit beside her. Only then can You do it.”

“That cannot be,” Rāma told him. “Please make another arrangement so that I can perform the sacrifice.”

“Your father married three hundred and sixty wives, so You can also marry again. I think that there are many beautiful ladies in the world who would want to marry You. They would readily marry You.”

“No,” said Rāma, “I cannot marry anyone else.”

“Then You cannot perform the sacrifice.”

“Please, somehow arrange it,” Rāma insisted.

Vasiṣṭha then said, “You can make a golden statue of Sītā. With that Sītā, You can sit and perform the sacrifice.”

Each following year, Rāma had one mūrti of Sītā made. These Deities were installed by mantra, by both Vasiṣṭha and Rāma Himself. By their invocation these Deities actually became alive. In Rāma’s last days, just before His pastimes in this world came to a close and He was about to go to aprakaṭa Ayodhyā (His spiritual abode), all those Deity forms of Sītā came and told Him, “We want to go with You and be with You forever.”

Rāma replied, “In this incarnation I can only accept one Sītā; only one Sītā will remain with Me. You are now so many. You should go to Vṛndāvana and take birth from the wombs of gopīs. There I will manage everything and will fulfill all your desires.”

Kṛṣṇa also came for that reason.

④(d) Another cause of Kṛṣṇa’s coming was Śūrpaṇakhā, the sister of Rāvaṇa. She wanted to marry Rāma, and because Rāma is like a desire tree, He had to fulfill her desire. [He did so by directly associating with her in her next birth, in her form as Kubja.] By mystic power Śūrpaṇakhā was able to assume many beautiful forms and could allure many men. Rāma considered, “Because I have accepted her, in this life, no one else may marry her.” He therefore ordered Lakṣmaṇa to cut off her nose. Then, in her next life she became Kubja and eight parts of her body were bent. Therefore, in that life also, no one married her. Her face was very beautiful, but her entire body was crooked and bent, like a hunchback. But when Kṛṣṇa touched her, she became very straight. At that time, her wishes were fulfilled. For this reason also, Kṛṣṇa descended.

⑤ Nārada Muni was another cause of Kṛṣṇa’s descent. Once during Nārada’s travels, he saw the two sons of Kuvera – Nalakūvera and Maṇigrīva – playing with many heavenly Apsarā girls. They were as naked as trees and stones, drinking wine, and completely without shame. Upon seeing Nārada coming along the path, the girls became ashamed. They folded their hands, covered themselves with garments, and prayed to Nārada from afar. The two men, on the other hand, completely mad and intoxicated on wine, began abusing both the girls and Nārada. They called out, “Why has this old man come here and disturbed everything?”

Being very merciful, Nārada thought, “They are sons of my friend Kuvera.” Nārada was on his way to meet Kuvera, but when he saw Kuvera’s sons so degraded, he thought, “I should punish them.” He therefore cursed them: “You should become trees. You are behaving like trees, and so you should become trees.”

As soon as they understood, “Oh, we are going to be trees!” they fell flat at Nārada’s lotus feet.

“What I have foretold will will certainly come true,” he told them. “But you will become trees in Gokula, where Kṛṣṇa will take birth and perform so many sweet pastimes. He will touch you and you will be liberated. Not only that, but you will also attain bhakti and become Kṛṣṇa’s transcendental associates forever.” So Kṛṣṇa also descended to fulfill Nārada’s foretelling.

⑥ Kṛṣṇa also came to perform rāsa-līlā. The personified Upaniṣad mantras had been performing austerities and chanting the gopāla-mantra and kāma-gāyatrī-mantra, in order to become gopīs. By their chanting, they became gopīs in their next birth. They became known as upaniṣad-cārī gopīs, and Kṛṣṇa accepted them as His beloveds.

There are two types of devotees who, by chanting mantras and performing austerities, were accepted by Kṛṣṇa. They are called yauthikī and ayauthikī, those who are in groups and those who are not. By this history we see that these mantras are very high-class and powerful. Never neglect them.

⑦ Once, Kṛṣṇa and Arjuna were out traveling. Kṛṣṇa said, “O Arjuna, I am so thirsty. Bring water from somewhere.” While looking for water, Arjuna saw some birds going toward the Yamunā. Upon reaching the Yamunā,he saw that she was flowing very sweetly and her water was very pure and clear. He also saw an old lady with white hair who was in trance. He circumambulated the lady and offered praṇāma to her. After some time, she returned to external consciousness. Arjuna then asked her, “Mother, who are you, and why are you meditating in this place? No one is here. What are you doing here on the bank of the Yamunā?”

The lady replied respectfully, “I have been doing ārādhana (worship) here for hundreds and thousands of years. I want to be a gopī in Vṛndāvana and serve Rādhā and Kṛṣṇa conjugal. Nārada kindly gave me gopāla-mantra and kāma-gāyatrī, so I have been worshiping here with these mantras.”

Arjuna returned to Kṛṣṇa and told Him what had happened. Kṛṣṇa then went to the elderly lady and mercifully blessed her.

These are some of the reasons for Kṛṣṇa’s descent to this world. There are so many stories and so many reasons that it would take about ten days to explain them all.