Why didn’t Krishna stop Dhristadyumna from killing Drona?

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Transcript

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So, when Dhristadyumna rushed towards killing Drona, why did Krishna not stop him? Krishna could have stopped him.
So actually, in that way, if we start talking about Krishna being capable of doing anything, then Krishna could have stopped the whole war itself. In fact, at the end of the war, there is one sage. I forget his name now.
Basically, the sage, he tells Krishna, you are God, how did you stop? Why did you not stop the war? Krishna says, you are the cause of the destruction. So Krishna says, I tried my best, but it did not work. So now, what does it mean, it did not work? Last year I was in America, so in New York I gave a class.
When God fails. So when God fails, what does God fail mean? Krishna went as a peace messenger and Krishna did not succeed. So can God fail in something? Actually, God is omnipotent.
God is all-powerful. That is true. At the same time, God has also given us free will.
And God’s omnipotence, by His supremacy, He has chosen to give us free will. When He chooses to give us free will, by that free will, when we act in particular ways, there are consequences of that. So when Krishna goes as a peace messenger to the kingdom of the Kauravas and requests them to not fight the war, at that time, actually only Krishna knows.
the Pandavas also tell him in one sense. Vidura also tells him before that, Krishna, they are not going to listen. Dhrudana is not going to listen.
So why are you going here? What are you going to achieve by this? So Krishna says, I want to make sure that my devotees are not blamed for having instigated the war. I want to make sure that the whole world knows that they did everything possible to avoid the war. So Krishna does not intervene with the free will of the living entity.
So sometimes, some souls may choose to misuse their free will, and Krishna will give them good counsel. But Krishna will not intrude on their free will by forcing them to do something. Krishna tried to dissuade Dhrudana, but Dhrudana did not listen.
Mahabharata depicts God not just as an omnipotent being who does anything and everything. When Krishna descends to this world, sometimes Krishna may exhibit his omnipotence, but at other times, Krishna acts just like an ordinary human being and he uses all these things available for him. So there is this concept of Leela.
The whole idea is that God is omnipotent, but God doesn’t always act as omnipotent. So he has given free will and he doesn’t interfere with the free will of people. And that’s how Dhrudana chose to act that way.
Krishna did not intervene with his free will. And of course, Dhrudana got the consequence of that when he was eventually killed by Ashwathama. There was a wrong doing from his part.
But that question, if Krishna starts exhibiting his omnipotence, then there is no room left for Leela only. We could say that when Ravana abducted Sita, so at that time, Rama could have just flown back over there and stopped Ravana from abducting Sita. Or even before that, Sita wanted that deer.
Why did Rama have to run after? Rama could have just extended his arm, made his arm very long and caught the deer by himself. Or even before that, when Kaikeyi was trying to… Kaikeyi was influencing the mind of Dushrath, Rama could have, as God, changed Kaikeyi’s mind. So then there would be no Rama and there would be no Mahabharata.
So, bhavesmin krishyamananam avidyakamagarmabhi shravanasvaranarhani aryakarishchanidhike chana So Kunti Maharani explores various causes why Krishna descends to this world. And after analyzing various causes in 1.8.32, 1.8.33, 1.8.34, she gives a final cause in 1.8.35 in the Srimad Bhagavatam and she says that is Krishna descends to perform pastimes by which future generations will have substance to hear and chant and thereby they get transient mortal existence. Does it answer your question? Any other questions?