Why did Krishna go to Kubja though she was known to be a society woman?
Transcript
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through reciprocations between Krishna and us.
Thank you. Previously misunderstood. So the first part of the Kuja pastime is when Krishna enters Mathura and transforms her from a hunchback woman to a very attractive young woman.
And as she is a maidservant of Kamsa, she tries to allure Krishna so that she can serve him in his own way. And Krishna refuses at that time. Then after that in chapters 46 and 47 of the 10th Canto, Krishna, who had been hoping to soon return back to Vrindavan as per his promise to the Vrajavasis and to the Gopis that he will come back, when he finds that the obligations in Mathura of killing the various demons are taking too much of his time, and they are not going to get over so quickly.
The Yadus have specifically requested him to stay there and Vasudevana Maharaja refused permission for him to return. So he sends Uddhava as a messenger. And Uddhava initially goes to pacify the Vrajavasis, but when he sees the depth, the intensity and the despair that is there and underlying the love of the Vrajavasis, he becomes overwhelmed.
And although he delivers the message of Krishna to the Vrajavasis, when he comes back, at that time he is still fervently and ecstatically agonized by seeing how they are suffering. So I am describing this based not just in the 10th Canto but in the previous Acharya’s books, primarily based on Jiva Goswami’s Gopal Champu. So Uddhava fervently requests Krishna that the Vrajavasis and the Vrajagopis, they love you so much, so purely, so selflessly.
How can you not go back? They are practically on the verge of death in separation from you. And they would have died long ago because the suffering that they are undergoing right now would be intolerable for anyone else. But just because of their promise, because of your promise that you will return, the door for their life air to exit from their body has been bolted shut.
And somehow they are living despite suffering the agony of separation that is far worse than death. So please go back, Uddhava fervently requests Krishna. And Krishna reassures him that, no, I will definitely go back.
I have promised them directly and I have promised them through you. But right now my obligations do not allow me to go there. And then if we look at the pastime when Krishna goes to Krishna, Prabhupada Poignanty times the title of the chapter as Krishna satisfies his devotees in the Krishna book.
And now when Krishna goes to Kubja, at that time he takes Uddhava with him. Now the materialistic mind may think that Kubja is a society girl and Krishna is going for some sensuous purposes over there. Actually Prabhupada warns us that if we think like this, this mentality needs to be rectified.
But if we look at the pastime, when Krishna goes to Kubja, why does he have to take Uddhava with him when he is going there? And if somebody wants to go to such a place, the person will go in secret and why take some other friend? And Uddhava goes there and he is actionious and sits passively and watches. So the underlying message, now Krishna has no lust and when Krishna sees that Kubja wants to serve him in a particular way, he’s already purified substantially and when she serves him, she will get purified further. So Krishna goes there not because of any material attraction to Kubja’s beauty or anything like that.
It is he only who has made Kubja beautiful and he himself is far more beautiful than anyone else in the world. So it is not that he had any need or desire to enjoy Kubja’s beauty, but he goes there to give her an opportunity to serve him and to thereby purify herself. But that is his deliverance of Kubja by that, by giving the opportunity to serve her.
But more importantly, he shows Uddhava that say Kubja, she did not have any really pure love for me. She had some attraction to me, but her attraction was tainted by material emotions. Initially, when she saw the beauty of Krishna, she was attracted and she offered her the various decorations to Krishna, which she was taking for Kamsa and then when she got a beautiful form, immediately she wanted to enjoy with Krishna.
It is not that she, so she certainly had some attraction to Krishna, which is fortunate, but her attitude of devotion to Krishna was not pure. She wanted, she had her own lust in it, mixed in, Jiva Swami explains. But Krishna is demonstrating to Uddhava that see, even if somebody has the contamination of lust within the heart, but even if that person wants to serve me, I will accept that service and I will do whatever is required for accepting that service.
So, if that is the case for anybody who serves me, even with a contaminated heart, then what to speak of somebody who serves me with a pure heart and the Gopis are supremely pure and how can I not reciprocate with their love? I will definitely reciprocate and I will go back to them and Krishna does this eventually, as is explained in the Padma Purana, as I have explained in another answer. After killing the Antavakra, he goes to Vrindavan and he fulfills the desire of the Gopis by marrying them and then by taking all the Rajvasis back to the spiritual world. But essentially here, Krishna demonstrates to Uddhava and through Uddhava to all of us that the promise that he makes to his devotees will surely be fulfilled.
So, even if somebody is approaching him with a mixed devotional motive, he will fulfill their desire also and what to speak of somebody who’s approaching him with a pure devotional intention, he will definitely fulfill their desire. So, what apparently appears to be something motivated by lust actually is the glorification