When the Yadavas fought amongst themselves and most died at Prabhas,
Balaram renounced His body in the sea, that is, He took jalasamadhi.
Then one day, when Sri Krishna was seated below the ashvattha tree
with His left foot on His right thigh, a hunter named Jara mistook
Him for a deer and shot an arrow, which struck the sole of Sri Krishna’s
left foot. When the hunter came close he realized his mistake and
asked Krishna for forgiveness. Krishna pacified him and sent him to
heaven. The place where this incident occurred is called ‘Bhalakatirtha’.
Bhal means the tip of a spear or an arrow.
At that time, Sri Krishna’s
charioteer Daruk appeared there. As he alighted the chariot and approached
Sri Krishna, the chariot disappeared. Then Sri Krishna directly merged
His body into the five
cosmic elements. (Saint
Tukaram and Saint Muktai,
too, have renounced Their bodies similarly.) Sri Krishna was 119 years
old at the time of renunciation of His body. According to some, the
ashes of Subhadra, Balabhadra (Balaram) and Sri Krishna were in a bamboo
box, which with the current of water reached Jagannathpuri. People
installed the ashes there and began ritualistic worship.
Sri Krishna’s family members’ renunciation
of Their bodies
On hearing that Sri Krishna had
culminated His incarnation, Vasudev, Devaki and Rohini, too, renounced
their bodies. Sri Krishna’s eight
wives entered the pyre and became satis. When Arjuna came to know of
this, he went there and took the remaining wives and children of Sri
Krishna to his capital, Indraprastha. After they left Dvarka, it, too,
got submerged in the sea. Since Arjuna was powerless without Sri Krishna,
wild people attacked and defeated him, and abducted the women.
Are incarnations assumed according to Destiny?
Some people may wonder, ‘How is it that Sri Rama had to take
birth again as the incarnation Sri Krishna?’, ‘In that
incarnation, did Sri Rama not have to renounce His body after being
shot at with an arrow by the hunter, who was actually Vali reborn and
who was slain with Sri Rama’s arrow in the previous birth?’,
etc.
Incarnations are not assumed according to Destiny. Such examples
are given only to emphasize the point that ‘one should not trouble
another’. In reality, in case of incarnations the concept of
Destiny does not hold good at all, because throughout their lives their
actions are non-actions (akarma karma), that is, the actions have no
consequences, being divinely willed. Apart from this, those who are
slain by incarnations attain the Final Liberation (Moksha).
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