Bhaktivedanta VedaBase: Srimad Bhagavatam 10.89 Summary

This chapter describes how Bhrigu Muni proved the supremacy of Lord Vishnu, and how Lord Krishna and Arjuna recovered the dead sons of an aggrieved brahmana in Dvaraka.

Once, long ago, on the shore of the river Sarasvati, a discussion arose among a group of sages as to which of the three chief lords -- Brahma, Vishnu or Siva -- is the greatest. They deputed Bhrigu Muni to investigate the matter.

Bhrigu decided to test the lords' tolerance, for that quality is a sure sign of greatness. First he entered the court of Lord Brahma, his father, without offering him any respect. This enraged Brahma, who suppressed his anger because Bhrigu was his son. Next Bhrigu went to Lord Siva, his older brother, who rose from his seat to embrace him. But Bhrigu rejected the embrace, calling Siva a deviant heretic. Just as Siva was about to kill Bhrigu with his trident, Goddess Parvati interceded and pacified her husband. Next Bhrigu went to Vaikuntha to test Lord Narayana. Going up to the Lord, who was lying with His head on the lap of the goddess of fortune, Bhrigu kicked His chest. But instead of becoming angry, both the Lord and His consort stood up and offered Bhrigu respects. "Welcome," said the Lord. "Please sit down and rest awhile. Kindly forgive us, dear master, for not noticing your arrival." When Bhrigu went back to the assembly of sages and told them all that had happened, they concluded that Lord Vishnu is certainly supreme.

Once in Dvaraka a brahmana's wife gave birth to a son who immediately died. The brahmana took his dead son to the court of King Ugrasena and berated the King: "This duplicitous, greedy enemy of brahmanas has caused my son's death by failing to execute his duties properly!" The same misfortune continued to befall the brahmana, and each time he would bring his dead infant's body to the royal court and berate the King. When the ninth son died at birth, Arjuna happened to hear the brahmana's complaint, and he said, "My lord, I will protect your progeny. And if I fail, I will enter fire to atone for my sin."

Some time later, the brahmana's wife was about to give birth for the tenth time. When Arjuna learned of this, he went to the maternity house and enveloped it with a protective cage of arrows. Arjuna's efforts were to no avail, however, for as soon as the child was born and began to cry, it disappeared into the sky. As the brahmana profusely derided Arjuna, the warrior set off for the abode of Yamaraja, the king of death. But Arjuna did not find the brahmana's son there, and even after searching throughout the fourteen worlds he could find no trace of the infant.

Having failed to protect the brahmana's son, Arjuna was now intent on committing suicide by entering the sacred fire. But just as he was about to do so, Lord Krishna stopped him and said, "I will show you the brahmana's sons, so please don't despise yourself like this." Lord Krishna then took Arjuna onto His transcendental chariot, and the two of them crossed over the seven universal islands with their seven oceans, passed over the Lokaloka mountain range and entered the region of dense darkness. Since the horses could not find their way, Krishna sent His blazing Sudarsana disc ahead to pierce the gloom. Gradually they came to the water of the Causal Ocean, within which they found the city of Lord Maha-Vishnu. There they saw the thousand-hooded serpent Ananta and upon Him lay Maha-Vishnu. The great Lord greeted Sri Krishna and Arjuna, saying "I brought the brahmana's sons here simply because I wanted to see the two of you. Please continue to benefit the people in general by exemplifying religious behavior in your forms of Nara-Narayana Rishi."

Lord Krishna and Arjuna then took the brahmana's sons, went back to Dvaraka and returned the infants to their father. Having directly experienced the greatness of Sri Krishna, Arjuna was amazed. He concluded that only by the Lord's mercy can a living being exhibit any power or opulence.

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Copyright (c) The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust International, Inc.
His Divine Grace A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada, Founder Acarya of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness
His Holiness Hrdayananda dasa Goswami
Gopiparanadhana dasa Adhikari
Dravida dasa Brahmacari