Lord Kṛṣṇa Fights with Bāṇāsura
67
Lord, all the demigods, including myself and Lord Brahmā, as well as great saintly persons and sages who have cleansed their hearts of this material attachment, have, by Your grace, wholeheartedly taken shelter of Your lotus feet. We have all taken shelter of You, because we have accepted You as the Supreme Lord and the dearmost life and soul of all of us. You are the original cause of this cosmic manifestation, You are its supreme maintainer, and You are the cause of its dissolution also. You are equal to everyone, the most peaceful supreme friend of every living entity. You are the supreme worshipable object for every one of us. My dear Lord, let us always be engaged in Your transcendental loving service so that we may get free from this material entanglement.
“Lastly, my Lord, I may inform You that this Bāṇāsura is very dear to me. He has rendered very valuable service unto me; therefore I want to see him always happy. Being pleased with him, I have given him the assurance of safety. I pray to You, my Lord, that as You were pleased upon his forefathers King Prahlāda and Bali Mahārāja, You will also be pleased with him.”
After hearing Lord Śiva’s prayer, Lord Kṛṣṇa addressed him also as lord and said, “My dear Lord Śiva, I accept your statements, and your desire for Bāṇāsura is also accepted by Me. I know that this Bāṇāsura is the son of Bali Mahārāja, and as such I cannot kill him because that is My promise. I gave a benediction to King Prahlāda that all the demons who would appear in his family would never be killed by Me. Therefore, without killing this Bāṇāsura, I have simply cut off his arms to deprive him of his false prestige. The large number of soldiers which he was maintaining became a burden on this earth, and I have killed them all in order to minimize the burden. Now he has four remaining arms, and he will remain immortal, without being affected by the material pains and pleasures. I know that he is one of the chief devotees of your lordship, so you can now rest assured that henceforward he need have no fear from anything.”
When Bāṇāsura was benedicted by Lord Kṛṣṇa in this way, he came before the Lord and bowed down before Him, touching his head to the earth. He immediately arranged to bring Aniruddha along with his daughter Uṣā, seated on a nice chariot, and presented them before Lord Kṛṣṇa. After this, Lord Kṛṣṇa took charge of Aniruddha and Uṣā, who had become very opulent materially because of the blessings of Lord Śiva. Thus, keeping forward a division of one  akṣauhiṇī  of soldiers, Kṛṣṇa began to proceed toward Dvārakā. In the meantime, all the people at Dvārakā, having received the news that Lord Kṛṣṇa was returning with Aniruddha and Uṣā in great opulence, decorated every corner of the city