Canto 1: Creation
SB1.15

Canto 1 · Chapter 15 · 51 verses · 1 story

The Pāṇḍavas Retire Timely

Arjuna grieves over Kṛṣṇa’s departure, and the Pāṇḍavas retire, fixing their minds on His lotus feet.

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Connected storiesJarāsandha and the RājasūyaBhīṣmadevaQueen KuntīLord Nṛsiṁhadeva
Who is speakingSūta Gosvāmī → the sages at NaimiṣāraṇyaEvery voice in this chapter ›

What this chapter speaks about · the ten subjects

In this chapter

Who · Yudhiṣṭhira, Arjuna, the Pāṇḍavas and Kṛṣṇa

The story · While Arjuna was away in Dvārakā, Yudhiṣṭhira observed disturbing signs in nature and increasing greed, anger and pride among people. He feared that the world would lose the good fortune of Kṛṣṇa’s presence. Arjuna, overcome by separation, said that Kṛṣṇa had left him and that his extraordinary power was gone. He turned again to Govinda’s instructions, which relieve the burning heart in every circumstance. The Pāṇḍavas retired and meditated without interruption on Kṛṣṇa’s lotus feet as the supreme goal.

What it teaches · Arjuna recognized that his strength depended on Kṛṣṇa’s mercy. The Lord’s instructions relieve distress, and His lotus feet are the supreme goal of religious life.

Beyond this chapter

Connected stories across the Bhāgavatam

Stories told in other chapters that this chapter's verses or Śrīla Prabhupāda's purports bring in, the other Bhāgavatam verses the purports quote, and stories in other cantos with the same themes. Each link shows the sentence it comes from.

What it teaches · The liberated kings recognize the danger of pride in temporary power. Kṛṣṇa directs them to worship Him, protect their subjects, and remain steady in happiness and distress.

Jarāsandha was a very powerful king of Magadha, and the history of his birth and activities is also very interesting.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 1.15.9 (Text 9)

Your respectable younger brother, who possesses the strength of ten thousand elephants, killed, by His grace, Jarāsandha, whose feet were worshiped by many kings.

Read the story in SB 10.71–75

What it teaches · Even great thinkers cannot fully understand the Lord’s plan. Bhīṣmadeva’s final prayers show the goal of fixing the mind upon Śrī Kṛṣṇa.

On the Kaurava side there were many stalwart commanders like Bhīṣma, Droṇa, Kṛpa and Karṇa, and their military strength was as insurmountable as the great ocean.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 1.15.14 (Text 14)

It was He only who withdrew the duration of life from everyone and who, in the battlefield, withdrew the speculative power and strength of enthusiasm from the great military phalanx made by the Kauravas, headed by Bhīṣma, Karṇa, Droṇa, Śalya, etc.

Read the story in SB 1.9

What it teaches · Kuntī’s prayer expresses dependence on Kṛṣṇa and the desire for uninterrupted devotion. The Lord remains unborn and transcendental even while protecting His devotees within this world.

Born of Kuntī by the sun-god prior to her marriage with Mahārāja Pāṇḍu, Karṇa took his birth with bangles and earrings, extraordinary signs for an undaunted hero.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 1.15.16 (Text 16)

Kuntī, after overhearing Arjuna’s telling of the end of the Yadu dynasty and disappearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa, engaged in the devotional service of the transcendental Personality of Godhead with full attention and thus gained release from the course of material existence.

Read the story in SB 1.8

What it teaches · No one is equal to or greater than the Supreme Personality of Godhead. His unlimited power protects His devotee and ends Hiraṇyakaśipu’s oppression.

The history of Prahlāda Mahārāja, the great devotee of Nṛsiṁhadeva, is narrated in the Seventh Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 1.15.16 (Text 16)

Similarly, Prahlāda Mahārāja, the supreme devotee of Lord Nṛsiṁhadeva, was unaffected by the weapons the demons used against him.

Read the story in SB 7.8

What it teaches · Hearing Kṛṣṇa’s qualities can awaken firm attachment to Him. The episode also warns that pride in power and possessions leads people to offend others.

Śiśupāla, at the time of being killed by the Lord, could not see Him as Kṛṣṇa, being dazzled by the glare of the brahmajyoti.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 1.15.35 (Text 35)
Read the story in SB 10.52–54

What it teaches · Kṛṣṇa appears by His own spiritual energy, not as an ordinary conditioned soul. His name, form, and attributes are understood through devotional service.

Jarāsandha was a relative of Kaṁsa, the maternal uncle of Kṛṣṇa, and therefore after Kaṁsa’s death King Jarāsandha became a great enemy of Kṛṣṇa, and there were many fights between Jarāsandha and Kṛṣṇa.

Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 1.15.9 (Text 9)

Therefore, the temporary manifestation of the Lord as a thunderbolt to the wrestlers appointed by Kaṁsa, or the glaring appearance of the Lord before Śiśupāla, was relinquished by the Lord, but the Lord as a magician is eternally existent and is never…

Śrīla Prabhupāda's purport · SB 1.15.35 (Text 35)
Read the story in SB 10.1–4