Hare Krsna,
I am impressed by the maturity displayed by Kaliya in his prayers; his prayers reveal his surrender to Krsna. He prays, “O Lord, since You are the omniscient Lord of the universe, You are the actual cause of freedom from illusion. Please arrange for us whatever You consider proper, whether it be mercy or punishment.” (SB 10.16.59) In other words, he is appealing to the Lord to do whatever the Lord desires to do. Of if the Lord thinks of doing something else, let that be done. In response, Krsna orders Kaliya to leave Vrindavan and go to the ocean. “O serpent, you may not remain here any longer. Go back to the ocean immediately, accompanied by your retinue of children, wives, other relatives and friends. Let this river be enjoyed by the cows and humans.” (SB 10.16.60)
I am astonished that Krsna did not let Kaliya stay in Vrindavan. Kaliya is no longer the envious and angry serpent he used to be. Krsna, by dancing on his hoods, took out all his poison and sinful reactions. In all other pastimes, Krsna has killed the demons. In Kaliya’s case, Krsna neither killed him nor let him stay in Vrindavan. I was wondering why! Generally, it is not approved by devotees that a person who has taken shelter of Vrindavan can be expelled. yad gatvā na nivartante. Those who reach it (the Supreme Abode of the Lord) never return to this material world. (BG 15.6)
To understand the hidden meaning of this pastime, I looked up various writings by devotees.
Srila Sanatana Goswami in his Brhad Vaisnava Tosani writes, “It is famous that Kaliya was touched by the Lord’s feet. But then he attained a place with his previous type of happiness. That is the astonishing action of the Lord. He went to the spot which he has previously left out of fear. Garuda also respected him and became friendly with him because he was marked by the Lord’s feet. His hoods became successful by the dancing and the foot dust which was desires by Laksmi and Brahma. He received instructions from the Lord, more than the Lord gave to Brahma and others, by which he drank the nectar of Krsna’s sweet words in person. Later, as a great devotee, he worshipped Krsna because he ultimately got mercy, though by an external vision he was punished. He received the highest grace, though he had been full of anger. Though he was an offender and crushed by Krsna’s feet repeatedly, simply by surrender in his heart he attained mercy.”
Srila Sanatana Goswami then reveals the hidden meaning of Krsna’s action. He says that Kaliya was expelled from the river in order that Krsna could play at ease with the people of Vraja on the bank of the Yamuna in Sri Vrindavana.
Elsewhere, in the May 1932 edition of The Harmonist, or Sree Sajjanatoshani, it is explained, “Kaliya is the type of cunning and malice. He is the embodiment of unrelenting cruelty. There is no place for Kaliya in the happy realm of Braja. Deceit and cruelty are as poison to the artless loving nature of the denizens of Braja. It is quite conceivable for the confiding chums of Krishna not to entertain any suspicion regarding the malicious intention of cruel and deceitful persons whose purpose is to poison them against Krishna. They may even unwittingly fall into the counsel of such evil persons. But Krishna is sure to rescue His Own from the whiles of His enemy…
The banishment of Kaliya from the lake of the Yamuna has a most important spiritual significance. Those who have a purpose to create trouble among the pure devotees of Krishna by infecting their nature with their own malicious dispositions meet with a certain degree of initial success in their nefarious undertaking. This emboldens them to make a direct attack on Krishna Himself when He appears on the scene of their depraved activities in order to restore the living faith of His Own bonafide associates… Those who are not exceedingly clever can never be servants of Krishna. But the service of Krishna is also never available to those whose cunning is employed for depriving Krishna of the fullness of His enjoyment… But these brutes are never allowed to associate with the servants of Krishna even after they forego their malice towards them. They are eternally debarred from the service of Krishna in Braja.
The article ends with this conclusion, “The mercy shown to Kaliya is so obviously and disproportionately great in its magnitude in face of the extreme gravity of his offense that no rationalistic explanation can do justice to its full beneficent significance.”
Important lessons for sadhakas to meditate upon and apply in our lives.
All glories to Srila Prabhupada!
Krsna Katha 