Deliverance of Mucukunda
341
and many other demons. They have acted as My enemies and have been killed by Me. The demon who was present before you also acted as My enemy, and you have very kindly burned him into ashes by glancing over him. My dear King Mucukunda, you are My great devotee, and just to show you My causeless mercy, I have appeared in this form. I am very affectionately inclined toward My devotees, and in your previous life, before your present condition, you acted as My great devotee and prayed for My causeless mercy. I have, therefore, come to see you to fulfill your desire. Now you can see Me to your heart's content. My dear King, now you can ask from Me any benediction that you wish, and I am prepared to fulfill your desire. It is my eternal principle that anyone who comes under My shelter must have all his desires fulfilled by My grace."
When Lord Krṣṇa ordered King Mucukunda to ask a benediction from Him, the King became very joyful, and he immediately remembered the prediction of Gargamuni, who had foretold long before that in the twenty-eighth millennium of Vaivasvata Manu, Lord Krṣṇa would appear on this planet. As soon as he remembered this prediction, he began to understand that the Supreme Person, Nārāyaṇa, was present before Him as Lord Krṣṇa. He immediately fell down at His lotus feet and began to pray as follows.
"My dear Lord, O Supreme Personality of Godhead, I can understand that all living entities on this planet are illusioned by Your external energy and are enamored of the illusory satisfaction of sense gratification. Being fully engaged in illusory activities, they are reluctant to worship Your lotus feet, and because they are unaware of the benefits of surrendering unto Your lotus feet they are subjected to various miserable conditions of material existence. They are foolishly attached to so-called society, friendship and love, which simply produce different kinds of miserable conditions. Illusioned by Your external energy, everyone, both man and woman, is attached to this material existence, and all are engaged in cheating one another in a great society of the cheaters and the cheated. These foolish persons do not know how fortunate they are to have obtained this human form of life, and they are reluctant to worship Your lotus feet. By the influence of Your external energy, they are simply attached to the glare of material activities. They are attached to so-called society, friendship and love like dumb animals that have fallen into a dark well." The example of a dark well is given because in the fields there are many wells, unused for years and covered over by grass, and the poor animals, without knowing of them, fall into them, and unless they are rescued, they die. Being captivated by a few blades of grass, the animals