The Kidnapping of Subhadrā
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Lord Krṣṇa was in favor of Arjuna; therefore, along with other members of the family, He tried to pacify Balarāma by falling at His feet and begging Him to pardon Arjuna. Lord Balarāma was then convinced that Subhadrā was attached to Arjuna, and He became pleased to know that she wanted Arjuna as her husband. The matter was settled, and in order to please the newly married couple, Lord Balarāma arranged to send a dowry, consisting of an abundance of riches, elephants, chariots, horses, servants and maidservants.
Mahārāja Parīkṣit was very anxious to hear more about Krṣṇa, and so, after finishing the narration of Arjuna's kidnapping Subhadrā, Śukadeva Gosvāmī began to narrate another story, as follows.
There was a householder  brāhmaṇa  in the city of Mithilā, the capital of the kingdom of Videha. This  brāhmaṇa , whose name was Śrutadeva, was a great devotee of Lord Krṣṇa. Due to his being fully Krṣṇa conscious and always engaged in the service of the Lord, he was completely peaceful in mind and detached from all material attraction. He was very learned and had no other desire than to be fully situated in Krṣṇa consciousness. Although in the order of householder life, he never took great pains to earn anything for his livelihood; he was satisfied with whatever he could achieve without much endeavor, and somehow or other he lived in that way. Every day he would get necessities for life in just the quantity required, and not more. That was his destiny. The  brāhmaṇa  had no desire to get more than what he needed, and thus he was peacefully executing the regulative principles of a  brāhmaṇa 's life, as enjoined in the revealed scriptures.
Fortunately, the King of Mithilā was as good a devotee as the  brāhmaṇa . The name of this famous King was Bahulāśva. He was very well established in his reputation as a good king, and he was not at all ambitious to extend his kingdom for the sake of sense gratification. As such, both the  brāhmaṇa  and King Bahulāśva remained pure devotees of Lord Krṣṇa in Mithilā.
Since Lord Krṣṇa was very merciful upon these two devotees, King Bahulāśva and the  brāhmaṇa , Śrutadeva, He one day asked His driver, Dāruka, to take His chariot into the capital city of Mithilā. Lord Krṣṇa was accompanied by the great sages Nārada, Vāmadeva, Atri, Vyāsadeva, Paraśurāma, Asita, Aruṇi, Brhaspati, Kaṇva, Maitreya, Cyavana and others. Lord Krṣṇa and the sages were passing through many villages and towns, and everywhere the citizens would receive them with great respect and offer them articles in worship. When the citizens came to see the Lord and all of them assembled together in one place, it seemed that the sun was present along with his various satellite planets. In that journey, Lord Krṣṇa and the sages passed through the kingdoms of Ānarta, Dhanva,