Introduction xiii
fighting. Except the five Pandava brothers, everyone died on the battlefield
of Kuruksetra. Maharaja Pariksit was at that time within the embryo of his
mother. His father, Abhimanyu, the son of Arjuna, also died on the battle-
field of Kuruksetra, and so Maharaja Panksit was a posthumous child.
When he was in the womb of his mother, a brehmastra weapon was released
by Asvatthama to kill the child. When Pariksit Maharaja’s mother, Uttara,
approached Krsna, Krsna, seeing the danger of abortion, entered her womb
as the Supersoul and saved Maharaja Pariksit. Maharaja Pariksit’s other
name is Visnurata because he was saved by Lord Visnu Himself while still
within the womb.

Thus everyone, in any condition of life, should be interested in hearing
about Krsna and His activities because He is the Supreme Absolute Truth,
the Personality of Godhead. He is all-pervading; He is living within every-
one’s heart, and He is living as His universal form. And yet, as described in
the Bhagavad-gita, He appears as He is in the human society just to invite
everyone to His transcendental abode, back to home, back to Godhead.
Everyone should be interested in knowing about Krsna, and this book is
presented with this purpose: that people may know about Krsna and be
perfectly benefitted in this human form of life.

In the Ninth Canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam, Sri Baladeva is described as
the son of Rohini, a wife of Vasudeva. Vasudeva, the father of Krsna, had
sixteen wives, and one of them was Rohini, the mother of Balarama. But
Balarama is also described as the son of Devaki, so how could He be the
son of both Devaki and Rohini? This was one of the questions put by
Maharaja Pariksit to Sukadeva Gosvami, and it will be answered in due
course. Maharaja Pariksit also asked Sukadeva Gosvami why Sri Krsna, just
after His appearance as the son of Vasudeva, was immediately carried to
the house of Nanda Maharaja in Vrndavana, Gokula. He also wanted to
know what the activities of Lord Krsna were while He was in Vrndavana
and while He was in Mathura. Besides that, he was especially inquisitive
to know why Krsna killed His maternal uncle, Kamsa. Kamisa, being the
brother of His mother, was a very intimate superior to Krsna, so how was
it that He killed Karisa? Also, he asked how many years Lord Krsna
remained in human society, how many years He reigned over the kingdom
of Dvaraka, and how many wives He accepted there. A ksatriya king is
generally accustomed to accept more than one wife; therefore Maharaja
Pariksit also inquired about His number of wives. The subject matter of
this book is Sukadeva Gosvami’s answering of these and other questions
asked by Maharaja Pariksit.

The position of Maharaja Pariksit and Sukadeva Gosvami is unique.
