How could Akrura be a part of a plot to kill Krishna’s relative and malign Krishna?

Podcast:

When Akrura was still a great devotee, how could he have been a part of a plot to kill someone and to ultimately malign Krishna through it? Answer, one of the key teachings of the Bhagavatam, if we see, or any other of the epics, is that the human mind is complex and that human motivations are often not very easy to figure out. And that’s why it’s very difficult, in general, to know why someone does a particular thing. Why would you wish to, for example, gamble? Why would Sita get so attracted to a deer? Now, we could say that it can give certain reasons for that. 

Those reasons do make certain sense within that context. Yudhishthira was obligated by his feeling of obedience to his elders. Sita wanted to get that deer as a gift from the forest, a forest souvenir for her mother-in-law. 

While those reasons are true, still, they don’t explain the extent necessarily of the severity of the desire, the strength of the desire. Why did they have to go so far? So, now, within the context, then the scripture gives some reason to us. It is that, within that context, the mental teaches a particular lesson. 

So, Akrura, it is said that when he took Krishna away from the Gopis, the Gopis were terribly hurt by that. And because of that, because of that offense to the Gopis, his intelligence became corrupted for a short while. Now, we may question, is this really an offense? Wasn’t a part of Krishna’s plan? Somebody had to be an instrument in Krishna’s plan. 

And he took up that task. And he also did that in a very devotional disposition. Yes, all that is true, no doubt. 

But ultimately, his actions did make great devotees like the Gopis feel hurt. And that is what matters, at least in this context. So, the first thing is, in such situations, to look at the context and see what particular lesson is being taught over there from the scripture. 

Now, from that lesson’s perspective, we then try to analyze those, try to understand, make better sense of those actions. Why did Chitraketu have to laugh? Why did Parvati have to curse him when he just laughed without even inquiring? When those actions are, they might make some sense, but they don’t always make full sense. So, one of the themes in the Bhagavatam is to accept that sometimes good people will do bad things. 

Or at least, venerable people will do questionable things. And while those actions will have some consequences, we shouldn’t let that taint our vision of them forever. That they are still special beings, exalted beings. 

And that is what should be our focus, rather than we getting caught in just trying to figure out why they did what they did. If we can, well and good. If we can learn some lessons, that’s even better. 

But if we try to deconstruct those lessons, then it really doesn’t take us very far. So, was Parvati a short-tempered person? Was Uttarasura a sarcastic person? Was Sita attached to trivial things? Was Yudhishthira addicted to gambling? Well, the answer to these will clearly be no, because Sita was ready to give up all comforts for Lord Rama’s sake. Yudhishthira, there is no record of him being repeatedly gambling and squandering and losing things. 

So, it’s best that we see such actions as just like a blip on the radar and focus on the overall life and character of the person. Thank you. Hare Krishna.