The end of Balarama and Krishna

Balarama and Krishna

In Hindu mythology, the ultimate and formless God has been conceived taking form (for the purpose of creation) primarily as the triumvirate, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. Vishnu exists always with his dual, the primordial snake Adi Sesha (aadi Sesha) with his one thousand heads. Adi Sesha is also known by the name, Ananta or the one without beginning or end. He is considered to be the king of the all the snakes in heaven and in the nether worlds. Vishnu is said to be mostly lying down on the coiled body of the snake on the “White Island (Sweta dweepa)” in the middle of the Milky Ocean (ksheera saagara). The snake holds his hood all the time over Vishnu as an umbrella. It is interpreted that Krishna was the incarnation of Vishnu and, his brother, Balarama, of Adi Sesha.

The scene in Dwaraka

Daruka, Krishna’s charioteer, was by his side when all this happened. He remarked. “Lord, almost all the Yadava men have been killed, including your son and grandson. Should we go to your brother and report the matter to him?” Krishna, without saying anything in reply, merely followed Daruka almost in a trance.

They found Balarama resting under a tree in a pensive mood. Krishna asked Daruka to go to Hastinapura and report the matter to the Pandavas. Arjuna should be asked to come with him to take care of the women and children left in Dwaraka. Daruka, drove the chariot to the palace of the Pandavas, in a dejected mood.

Krishna requested his brother to wait for him while he went to Dwaraka to meet his father. He, after reaching Dwaraka, bowed in front of his father and reported the carnage of the Yadavas to him. Then, he said. “Please wait for Arjuna’s arrival to protect the women and children in Dwaraka. I cannot live any more in this place after witnessing the death of all our people. Let me retire to the forest and spend time in meditation with my brother.”

There was a huge hue and cry in the palace when the ladies heard what all had happened and learnt that Krishna was leaving them behind for the forest. Krishna consoled them saying that Arjuna soon would be there to take care of them.

The end of Balarama

As Krishna reached the place where his brother was, he found him walking towards the ocean. He simply walked into the waters and disappeared, as though welcomed by the ocean in its fold. In the process he transformed himself into the divine form of the snake, Adi Sesha. All the divine snakes like Takshaka and Karkotaka received their king with all reverence. The sea itself turned into the milky ocean.

The end of Krishna

Krishna realized that the time had come for his own end. The purpose of his life was the destruction of the evil and the protection of the virtuous. That was already achieved. He remembered all the major events of his life on earth and the words of Gandhari cursing him to this tragic end. With his mind engrossed in such thoughts he lied down at the foot of a tree and got into a yogic trance.

At that moment a hunter by name Jara appeared at a distance. He was chasing a bird with his bow and arrow for his meal. He noticed something looking like his prey hiding in the bush which was one of Krishna’s feet. Mistaking that to be a bird, Jara dispatched an arrow that pierced all the way into Krishna’s body. When the hunter rushed to the scene to collect his prey what he found was the dead body of Krishna. The hunter was apologetic, but, Krishna had by then breathed his last and gone back to his own world, in the milky ocean. That was how, the life of the most illustrious characters in Mahabharata ended. Krishna, who was revered by gods and humans alike while he lived, and was the centre of attention wherever he was, died in a lonely forest unattended by any. The simple arrow of an ordinary hunter killed the one whose weapons, especially, the Sudarsana Cakra was capable of destroying all the worlds.

In his abode Krishna, in his original form as Vishnu, was received with all reverence and worshipped by the celestial sages like Narada.