Karma Kanda Svarupo'yam

This Magadha [Jarasandha], the relative of Kamsa, is the very embodiment of karma-kanda, the ritualistic portion of the Vedas; he besieged the beautiful city of Mathura, which is the embodiment of brahma-jnana, knowledge of the Absolute.

Through his own potency, Krishna led his kinsmen away to the city of Dvaraka; leaving behind the barbarous (mleccha) Yavana, Hari, together with Balarama, departed from Mathura.

Having kicked Maharaja Mucukunda, who was qualified for the path of liberation, the wicked one was then reduced to ashes by his radiance.

Hari, having gone to Dvaraka, a city itself made of the consciousness of majestic opulence, married the goddess Rukmini, who is herself the very embodiment of supreme opulence.

Pradyumna, who is Kamadeva himself in another form, was born to her, and was then stolen away by the evil-minded demon Sambara, who himself possessed the very form of illusion.

Instructed by his own wife, the goddess Rati, Kama, the slayer of enemy heroes, killed Sambara and then went to Dvaraka.

Hari, out of love, married Satyabhama, an auspicious portion of Radha in her own aspect of jealous pride, through the very pretext of recovering a lost jewel.

Rukmini and the other principal queens, eight in number, within Krishna's inner palace, are indeed reflected images, in their own right, of the hladini (pleasure-giving) potency in its feature of sweetness (madhurya).

In this display of opulence, Krishna's fruitfulness is seen in the vast extent of his progeny; the growth of the Yadu dynasty in Dvaraka lives on within the hearts of the saintly.

In a text meant to convey only the surface meaning, a full determination of their deeper significance cannot be made; it must be done separately, and let the wise make it known.

Having slain the demon who embodied monism (advaita), Krishna, the husband of Rama (Lakshmi), burned Kashi, the abode of Hara (Shiva), which was the seat of that wicked doctrine.

He who rides upon Garuda, having slain the demon born of the earth, the very embodiment of earthly, materialistic intelligence, rescued the multitude of women held captive and, dear to the saintly, married them.

Having had Jarasandha slain through Bhima, the brother of Dharma (Yudhishthira), he freed the kings who had been held captive from the bondage of the noose of karma.

And at the sacrifice of the son of Dharma, having received complete and unreserved worship there, he severed the head of Shishupala, who harbored hatred toward Him, the Supreme Self.

In the battle of Kurukshetra, Krishna, removing the burden of the earth, that merciful one, accomplished the necessary task of protecting society.

And the sage Narada, upon beholding Hari present in the private chambers of each and every one of his queens simultaneously, arrived at a state of wonder in ascertaining this truth.

Dantavakra, who embodied a miserly, mean disposition, was then slain; and the Lord gave Subhadra, indeed, to Arjuna (Nara), the brother of Dharma (Yudhishthira), in marriage.

Having destroyed the illusion wrought by Shalva, he protected the city of Dvaraka; and he freed King Nrga from the noose of karma, from the very condition of having become a lizard.

Hari ate the flattened rice given with love by Sudama, and was not nearly so pleased by the sweets offered by faithless pretenders.

Bala too, this pure soul, having come under the sway of love for Krishna, slew the foolish ape-demon Dvivida, who took delight in denying the very existence of God.

Within the abode fashioned from his own inner awareness, present within the heart, the son of Rohini enjoyed pastimes with the gopis, themselves manifestations of his own ecstatic mood, deep within the great forest.

Krishna's pastimes go on continuously, eternally, within the hearts of his devotees; but like an actor he too goes to his own abode when the lives of the devotees come to an end.

That chaste desire of Krishna's own, taking the form of time itself, having withdrawn the Yadavas, themselves but manifestations of his own moods, from their play, then caused Dvaraka to be submerged beneath the sea.

At Prabhasa, which is knowledge of the Lord (bhagavaj-jnana), that delighting one [Krishna's desire] released them, through their mutual quarrel, from their bodies overcome by old age.

And he whose very nature is love for Krishna (krishna-bhava), having come out of the body overcome by old age, reaches Gokula and is glorified there in his own glory.